Art Modell's latest loss -- in court

I don't know if I've mentioned this before, but there's a case going on that involves one of my favorite things (copyright law) and one of my least favorite things (Art Modell). It seems that the lame logo[1] that Modell uses for his Baltimore Ravens looks exactly like a logo that had been submitted to the Maryland Stadium Authority, at the MSA's request, for use as a possible logo.

The artist, who had been a security guard at one of the state's office buildings, had sketched out a number of logos. He provided copies to the MSA, and asked only for an autographed football and a helmet with the logo as payment for use of the logo. The team declined. He sued for $10,000,000.

Yesterday, the jury returned a verdict of infringement. No word on damages yet, which is still subject to an accounting of the profits due to the logo. The Baltimore Sun article on this can be found at
<http://www.sunspot.net/cgi-bin/editorial/story.cgi?storyid=900000230921>.

I'm shocked and stunned that there's nothing in the usual online news sources yet, but they're all full of news about elections and stuff like that.

Earlier stories about the suit (but not the verdict) are at
<http://www.sportserver.com/newsroom/ap/fbo/1998/nfl/nfl/feat/archive/071398/nfl37332.html>
and
<http://www.nando.net/newsroom/ntn/sports/102898/sports15_15386_body.html>.

It couldn't happen to a nicer NFL franchise. Modell delenda est.

[1] Even the witnesses for the plaintiff don't have much to say that's good about the logo:

   "I distinctly remember that Fred Bouchat had the same exact logo as    the Baltimore Ravens, but he had it before. I remember Mr. Bouchat's    design very distinctly because I thought it was stupid and not very    cool. When I saw the logo that the Ravens unveiled, I said to myself,    `Oh, God, they adopted that stupid design.'"

• Robert Pepersack, a computer programmer at the Maryland Insurance Administration, in an affidavit filed in the case.

   "I remember it in particular because I did not like it,"

• Francis X. Pugh, Maryland assistant attorney general (now retired), in another affidavit.

--
Terry Carroll       | "Report of the Committee On Governmental Affairs,
Santa Clara, CA     | United States Senate, To Accompany S. 1364, An Act To
carroll[_at_]tjc.com     | Eliminate Unnecessary and Wasteful Federal Reports."
Modell delendus est |  - Title of U.S. Senate Report 105-187, May 11, 1998