Four months ago, the Cleveland Indians revealed their rebrand to the Guardians in grand fashion, led by Tom Hanks to narrate the announcement. They did everything except check to make sure the name was available.
Cleveland’s Major League Baseball team is planning to take over the Guardian moniker following the end of the 2021 season, which is rapidly coming to a close. But their plans may have hit a snag after the Cleveland Guardians roller derby team filed a federal lawsuit to block the baseball club’s rebrand.
“The Cleveland Guardians have attempted several times to negotiate with the Indians to resolve this dispute,” the lawsuit says. “Those talks, which began right after the July 23 announcement, broke down on October 26, 2021.”
The roller derby team has used the Cleveland Guardians name since 2013. They have not had a season since 2018, but are now planning to resume play in 2022. More importantly, the roller derby squad owns the clevelandguardians.com domain and all associated social media accounts.
“When given an opportunity to acquire all the Cleveland Guardians&
The baseball franchise filed its trademark for the Cleveland Guardians earlier this year in Mauritis to keep the rebrand from leaking, but the roller derby squad alleges they did it to avoid a naming conflict.
“Despite knowing of Plaintiff’s established rights, Defendant wants to call its team the ‘Cleveland Guardians’ too,” the lawsuit reads. “Economic might, however, does not make legal right. There cannot be two ‘Cleveland Guardians’ teams in Cleveland, and, to be blunt, Plaintiff was here first.”
“Major League Baseball would never let someone name their lacrosse team the ‘Chicago Cubs’ if the team was in Chicago, or their soccer team the ‘New York Yankees’ if that team was in New York – nor should they,” the derby squad’s lead attorney Christopher Pardo said in a statement.
Cleveland Indians owner Paul Dolan announced the team’s plan to rebrand in 2020 after the murder of George Floyd caused social unrest throughout the country. Following months of internal discussions, the Indians began the process of rebranding to the Guardians in April 2021.