July 2017. The US Major League Baseball MLB is considering filing an opposition to the registration of a new logo by the Overwatch League, an online video game competition. MLB claims the logo too closely resembles its own MLB trademark.
On the right the Overwatch logo that was filed for registration
Gaining time
In order to gain time, the MLB has asked the US Patent and Trademark Office for a 90-day postponement before filing the opposition, giving it until the end of October to prepare its case.
Trademark infringement?
According to Chiever it’s highly doubtful, though, that this is a genuine trademark infringement. After all, while the idea may be similar, the design is quite different and uses different colours. As the US website Techdirt correctly points out, the National Basketball Association (NBA) logo is in fact much closer to the MLB logo in appearance, yet doesn’t seem to give rise to any problems. Perhaps the MLB should use its 90-day grace period to reconsider its decision?
Update
From a recent publication on the website of the law firm of Morrison Lee we have learned that MLB finally decided not to oppose the Overwatch League trademark. A wise decision!