// The Real USFL LLC is suing Fox Sports, Inc., The Spring League, LLC, and USFL Enterprises, LLC, the parties behind the forthcoming new United States Football League (USFL), which is set to start in April. It claims that the new USFL franchise supported by Fox Sports and expected to air on the network is an “unabashed counterfeit” and that it has no right to capitalize on the goodwill of the prior USFL league.

The complaint, filed in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California, argues that hundreds of millions of dollars were invested into the development of the prior USFL, which was a professional football league that organized games in the 1980s and included prominent players such as Jim Kelley, Reggie White, Doug Flutie, and Steve Young. The plaintiff is claiming that the organizations behind the new iteration of the USFL are infringing on its intellectual property and that the public is at least likely to be confused as to whether the old USFL is in any way associated or affiliated with the new USFL.

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“[Fox] has taken the name and logo of the original league, its team names, and team logos to which it has no right,” states the complaint.” And, to make matters worse, it has traded on the false narrative that Fox’s League and USFL teams are the offspring of the originals. They are not.”

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The Real USFL is described as a holding company that possesses all rights and interests in and to nearly 400 trademarks for the USFL name and logo, as well as the names and logos for 18 teams. The defendants will certainly posit that the plaintiff abandoned all of its intellectual property and has not conducted business in quite some time, and thus there can be no causes of action for trademark infringement, false advertising, unfair competition, and the like. The plaintiff’s extensive portfolio of trademark registrations documented with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office has been dead and the individual registrations canceled for roughly 30 years.

As a counter, expect the plaintiff to try to hold onto its claims by referencing certain media licensing arrangements for apparel, books, and other media in the recent past. This includes a licensing agreement with American Classics, Inc. to produce throwback T-shirts bearing the names and logos of the USFL’s original teams and a book titled, “The United States Football League, 1982-1986,” published in 2017 with a release to the author that allowed him to use the USFL league and team logo.

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Ultimately, it seems as though the defendants have a better likelihood of success on the merits, and it is possible that this case gets kicked out on a motion to dismiss.

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Darren Heitner is the founder of Heitner Legal. He is the author of How to Play the Game: What Every Sports Attorney Needs to Know, published by the American Bar Association, and is an adjunct professor at the University of Florida Levin College of Law. You can reach him by email at [email protected] and follow him on Twitter at @DarrenHeitner.

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Darren Heitner, Football, Intellectual Property, Sports