Cleveland Indians and Major League Baseball Still in Logo Dispute in Canada

A recent Law360 article gives an update on the Cleveland Indians logo dispute in Canada that flared up during the team’s playoff run last fall.  The Human Rights Tribunal of Ontario has refused to toss a Canadian human rights activist’s discrimination claims against Major League Baseball and the Cleveland Indians, finding that it has the authority to hear the dispute over the team’s controversial “Chief Wahoo” logo.  The baseball club also faced a trademark challenge in February 2016 by a group of Native Americans who say the team’s logo is offensive and violates the Lanham Act’s ban on “disparaging” trademarks. The trademark challenge against the Indians was suspended in May 2016 while a case raising similar questions, Lee v. Tam, plays out in the courts.  The US Supreme Court will be deciding the Lee v. Tam case shortly.

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Faculty, student and staff of C|M|Law can get the article via their Lexis Advance accounts.  Once signed in, simply type “Law360 Legal News” in the big search box and select the resource. Next, type in “MLB, Cleveland Indians Can’t End Logo Dispute In Ontario” (the headline of the article)  in the Headline segment box.