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7 June 2016Trademarks

Major League Baseball Players Association sues app developer for trademark infringement

The Major League Baseball Players Association (MLBPA) has sued digital sports network OneUp Games for trademark infringement.

The suit was filed at the US District Court for the Southern District of New York.

The MLBPA owns several trademarks including ‘Players Choice’, ‘MLBPA’, ‘Major League Baseball Players Association’ and ‘MLBplayers.com’.

In January 2013, OneUp and the MLBPA entered in to a license agreement whereby the MLBPA granted OneUp a licence to use its trademarks in connection with a baseball app for mobile phones described as a “head-to-head bingo-style game.”

The deal was made up of three licensing agreements stretching from January 1 2013 to December 31 2015.

OneUp was required to pay MLBPA royalties for each licence period but according to the suit has not paid any fees since July 2015.

Under the terms of the agreement, OneUp was also required to obtain MLBPA’s written approval of the pre-release versions of the app before distribution and sale but allegedly failed to do so.

The license agreement expired in December 2015 and MLBPA has asked the court to prevent OneUp from using its trademarks and to prevent it from damaging the MLBPA’s goodwill.

MLBPA is seeking attorneys’ fees and damages.

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