[bigboydan]

The team without a home or owner might also not have a name.


According to a report in The New York Times on Tuesday, the United States Patent and Trademark Office granted a request for federal trademark registration on the name Washington Nationals to Bygone Sports last week. The Cincinnati-based company, which specializes in historic trademarks and sports apparel, applied for the trademark in September 2002.


According to the Times, Major League Baseball, aware of Bygone Sports' claim to the Washington Nationals name, thought it had reached an agreement with the company for the name's rights when the franchise was moved from Montreal in 2004.


"We believe we own the name and the rights," John McHale Jr., a baseball executive vice president, told the Times. "We struck a deal prior to the announcement with the people who claimed they owned the name, and we've been fighting to get that agreement enforced. They didn't live up to the agreement."


However, Roger Kaplan, an attorney for Bygone Sports, told the Times that although baseball contends an oral agreement was reached Nov. 12, 2004 -- 10 days before the team was renamed -- the sides had actually only reached a preliminary agreement.


"All the terms and conditions had not been fully discussed," he said.


Kaplan also contends that baseball and Bygone Sports had not put the agreement in writing and had agreed not to be bound by an agreement until it was in writing.


Both baseball and Bygone Sports sued, and the case landed in federal court, where it will be determined if there is an enforceable agreement. If the lawsuit goes forward, a trial is scheduled to begin April 3 -- the day the Nationals open their second season in Washington.


Neither baseball nor Bygone Sports dispute that the company raised its asking price for the rights from $130,000 to $1.5 million. Bygone Sports also asked for four tickets to the Nationals' opener last season and a $10,000 advertising credit on MLB.com.


"For two weeks after the team was named, Bygone was prepared to move forward on the original amount," Kaplan told the Times.


But negotiations collapsed, and both sides filed suit.


Baseball sued in June, claiming that although Bygone Sports had applied for the rights two years prior to the team's move, the company wanted to "turn a quick, undeserved profit" by seeking trademark registration rights. In its countersuit in July, Bygone Sports accused baseball of not researching the name to know that someone else had claimed it.


If the case proceeds and the judge rules for Bygone Sports, baseball would then have to decide whether to rename the team, because it would not be able to sell apparel and other paraphernalia with the Nationals name on it.


"You wouldn't be able to go to the ballpark and buy a shirt or cap with the team name on it," Kaplan told the Times.


"I think it's likely that we would change if we're not correct," McHale told the Times.

[Illusion]

Once baseball pays them off they will be able to keep the name.

[Willie Bee]

"I think it's likely that we would change if we're not correct," McHale told the Times.

You think?! Maybe they could rename the team McHale's Navy since that was another group of bungling fools just like MLB has been with this whole deal.

Wonder if Ernest Borgnine owns the trademark to McHale's Navy? And, if so, would anyone from MLB even think to ask?

[BigD]

baseball will pay them off and the will keep the name baseball may have to pay alot more now than before

[bigboydan]

Nationals settle trademark lawsuit
March 14, 2006



NEW YORK (AP) - The Washington Nationals can keep their nickname.


Major League Baseball has settled a lawsuit with a company that said it owned the trademark rights to the name ``Washington Nationals.''

``The Washington Nationals have sole exclusive rights to the name,'' baseball spokesman Rich Levin said Tuesday.

The retailing arm of Major League Baseball sued Bygone Sports LLC in U.S. District Court in Manhattan in June, asking the court to declare that the trademark does not belong to the company because its sole purpose in filing for a trademark was to capitalize on the naming of the team, which used to be the Montreal Expos.

Bygone Sports answered with countercharges a month later, arguing that Major League Baseball failed to check to see if anyone else had rights to the name and that MLB could have challenged the Atlanta-based company's September 2002 trademark application.

A trial was scheduled to begin April 3 - the day the Nationals open the season at the New York Mets.

A lawyer for Bygone Sports did not immediately return a telephone message.

``I've just been told that it's been settled,'' Nationals president Tony Tavares said, referring questions to Levin.

[Illusion]

It's all about the money. I knew they wouldn't change their name.