The three-year battle between Salt Lake's Triple-A baseball team and Georgia Tech ended Tuesday with the Salt Lake franchise agreeing to pay $600,000 for infringing on Tech's trademarked name for its mascot "Buzz."
The settlement was filed in U.S. District Court in Atlanta. Tech has owned the trademark for use of the word for sporting and entertainment purposes since 1988.
The terms of the settlement bar the Salt Lake team from using Buzz in the team's name, Web site or for merchandizing purposes. That shouldn't be a problem since the Salt Lake Buzz were renamed the Salt Lake Stingers prior to the 2001 season.
"We think this case shows we mean business when it comes to protecting our trademarks, and we're willing to challenge those people who infringe on them," said Tammy Tuley Purves, director of client communications for Georgia Tech.
Although the baseball team's name was changed to Stingers this year, Georgia Tech officials were concerned that permitting the team to go unchallenged could lead to other encroachments on Tech trademarks.
"The name Buzz is synonymous with Georgia Tech," Purves said. "With our visibility as a top-ranked university, our mascot has become one of the most popular in sports today. This settlement is a testament to our ownership of the trademark and the efforts of Tech and the Collegiate Licensing Company, our licensing agency, to protect our brand."
Stingers attorney Mike Martinez said it was the baseball team's insurance company that negotiated the settlement, which covered only half of the attorneys fees incurred by Georgia Tech.
"They just decided that even if they (Salt Lake) won, they won nothing tangible," he said of the Salt Lake's Triple-A team. "They only won the right to use the name Buzz, and Buzz is no longer relevant to the Stingers. They didn't need it anymore."
It was estimated by those involved that it would cost more than $1 million if the case went to trial, he said. Six different attorneys or firms were involved in the case, and they all charge an hourly rate.
"With that many attorneys involved, it just gets astronomical," Martinez said. "I think it was the right thing to do to just cut the losses. It was a waste of money for it to go this far."
Georgia Tech and the Salt Lake baseball team became entangled over the rights to the Buzz name after owner Joe Buzas moved his baseball franchise to Utah in the early 1990s and renamed it the Salt Lake Buzz, a nod to the old Salt Lake Bees.
The name passed unnoticed in Georgia until 1997 when Salt Lake Buzz merchandise was seen on sale in Atlanta. Tech began negotiating with the team and asked Buzas to stop using the name. The team initially agreed, according to Georgia Tech, but reneged and filed a lawsuit in a Utah court against Tech, asking the court to allow the team to continue using the name. Georgia Tech filed the countersuit in 1998.