For the past year, attorneys for Salt Lake Buzz owner Joe Buzas have been defending his team's name in a Georgia courtroom, and a federal appeals court ruled Friday that the legal battle will remain there.
Georgia Tech University filed a federal suit there saying the Utah minor league baseball team is infringing on its "Buzz" trademark. The suit was filed shortly after Buzas filed his own suit in February 1998 in Utah's federal court to protect his use of the "Buzz" logo. Both teams use a blue-and-gold bee as mascots.Buzas' lawsuit was dismissed in May 1998, however, when U.S. District Judge Tena Campbell ruled the suit was only filed in anticipation of a similar filing in Georgia by the Atlanta-based university. Campbell ruled Georgia was a better venue to hear the case because the university was the party objecting to the Salt Lake team's use of the "Buzz" logo.
In a ruling released Friday, the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals upheld Campbell's ruling. Gregory Phillips, attorney for Buzas, said the ruling is not surprising considering the Georgia case has been proceeding for more than a year.
"We would have preferred to litigate this matter here in Salt Lake but we think we'll still be successful in litigating it down in Georgia," Phillips said.
Georgia Tech says it registered the "Buzz" trademark in 1988 for its Yellow Jacket mascot named "Buzz," which also is a blue-and-gold bee. At a 1997 merchandising show in Atlanta the university discovered a retailer selling Salt Lake Buzz items and it became concerned consumers were confusing the teams' items.
Both organizations say annual sales from logo merchandise are between $300,000 and $500,000.
The school notified the Buzz and minor league baseball saying it objected to the Salt Lake team's use of the logo. It appeared the Buzz and the university had at one time reached an agreement where the Utah team would cease using the logo after the 1998 season.
The university sent the Buzz a settlement agreement in February 1998, but the Buzz never responded. Eleven days later Buzas filed suit in Utah's federal court seeking a ruling that his team was not infringing on Georgia Tech's trademark name.
Georgia Tech followed with a suit of its own in a Georgia federal court accusing the Salt Lake Buzz of trademark infringement and unfair competition.
The appeals court ruling is not related to the case's merits. Phillips says the Buzz have filed in the Georgia court a motion for summary judgment saying the university cannot make a dilution claim because the "Buzz" trademark is not a famous, nationally known, household trademark.
"There is no confusion," Phillips said. "We operate in different markets."
The motion says many teams in many sports use the same monikers, such as bears, lions and tigers, and there is no confusion or trademark battle going on among those teams.
Phillips said the Buzz will not consider any settlement offer that would require the team to cease using the "Buzz" logo. If the team's motion for summary judgment is denied, Phillips expects the case will go to trial sometime next summer.
Attempts Friday afternoon by the Deseret News to reach attorneys for the university for comment were unsuccessful.