The Red Sox want to patent the word “Boston.” Experts say good luck with that. (Jim Mahoney/Boston Herald)
Two trademark applications for the word “Boston” were filed this month under the Red Sox name — an aggressive proposal that trademark law experts laughed off and pointed out has an “extremely low” chance of being approved by the federal government.
The filings, which can be found on the United States Patent and Trademark Office website, target the city's trademark for all kinds of apparel and entertainment services, including radio, podcasts and television.
New York copyright attorney Maryann E. Licciardi — of Cowan, Liebowitz & Latman — filed the filings for Boston Red Sox Baseball Club Limited Partnership New England Sports Ventures, LLC, which has a Fenway Park address. When reached for comment Thursday, he deferred to Major League Baseball.
Sources tell the Herald that the Red Sox were unaware of the effort, which was initiated by the league. MLB reportedly filed the petition on behalf of the team and was also behind similar petitions filed for the Houston Astros and Seattle Mariners on the same day, March 17.
MLB did not immediately respond to requests for comment Thursday, other than to say it was looking into the matter.
“They're seeking the rights to the word 'Boston' itself, and the government should flatly reject that,” Boston University Law School Professor Stacey Dogan told the Herald, laughing at times about the trademark bid.
“The word 'Boston' has many different meanings,” he added. “It doesn't specifically refer to this group.”
The league owns all team “names, nicknames, logos, nicknames, logos, uniform designs, color schemes and slogans identifying Major League Baseball clubs and entities and their respective mascots, events and exhibitions,” the legal statement states. notice for MLB.com.
However, in trademark applications, “Boston” isn't even written in the team's classic font.
New England Law Professor Peter Karol said the Sox trademark applications are too broad and aggressive.
“These are absurd statements and they are an overreach,” he said. “They have a very low chance of being successful.”
“Trademark law generally doesn't allow what they're trying to do,” Karol added. “They are reluctant to give a group the right to a position.”
Karol suggested this could be an attempt by the league to shut down vendors selling merchandise and apparel outside, and noted that the app for entertainment services mentions fantasy sports.
“I think that could be part of what's going on, with the huge rise in fantasy sports and betting,” Karol said. “They might want to protect the word in digitized forms, and maybe the metaverse.”
Sports betting became legal in Massachusetts earlier this month and is already legal in Washington state, but not in Texas. The Red Sox already have partnerships with BetMGM and DraftKings.
Alexandra Jane Roberts, a professor at the Northeastern University School of Law, stressed that the chances of the trademark succeeding are “extremely low.”
“There are words and phrases that just can't be trademarked because they're used by so many different sources, they can't be attributed to a single source,” adding, “There are phrases and slogans that are just going to be really difficult or impossible to establish trademark rights'.
