MLB tried to trademark the word “Seattle”
Here at Seahawks Wire, we obviously focus on, well, the Seahawks and the NFL overall. But when there is a unique Seattle sports story, it’s hard to avoid discussing it. On Friday, the Boston Globe dropped a rather peculiar one involving the Red Sox, the Mariners and the Astros.
Apparently, Major League Baseball filed a trademark application with the US Patent and Trademark Office for the words Boston, Seattle, and Houston. At the request of the Red Sox, the MLB has withdrawn their application for at least Boston.
According to the @BostonGlobe, the MLB tried to file trademark applications to own the words
Boston, Seattle and Houston
on behalf of the @RedSox, @Mariners and @astros https://t.co/xy0A0cDZXl
— Kole Musgrove (@KoleMusgrove23) March 24, 2023
John Henry, the owner of both the Red Sox and the Boston Globe, mentioned in a statement “(the) MLB’s intent was to protect these clubs’ use of their city name in connection with professional baseball services and apparel, not an attempt to own the city name or prevent others from using the city name.”
Michael McCann of Sportico writes a team can’t own a city name, but it “can obtain certain rights for the commercial use of a city name in specific circumstances.” This article delving further into the legality of such a move can be read here.
Certainly, this is a developing story and an interesting one to keep an eye on.
