Amarillo’s professional baseball franchise waded into a trademark controversy on Monday.
On Monday, Panhandle Baseball Club, Inc. issued a statement on the trademark controversy surrounding the Sod Poodles team name. As we previously reported, the club chose Amarillo Sod Poodles as the name for the team, but failed to trademark “Amarillo Sod Poodles,” which was trademarked by Dusty Green and Stone Ranch Media. Green later announced that he would not back off from his application for the trademark, and would donate the profits made from Sod Poodles gear to local charities.
In the statement, Amarillo Pro Baseball announced they had obtained a temporary restraining order against Green to prevent him from distrusting Sod Poodles merchandise. The team also went on to call Green’s use of the name “ornamental,” and said they believe he does not have rights to use the name.
“Despite Mr. Green’s statements on this matter, he does not have trademark rights in the name SOD POODLES,” Amarillo Pro Baseball said. “In reality, Mr. Green only has a pending trademark application with no rights to the name SOD POODLES. It is Panhandle Baseball’s position that Mr. Green’s trademark application was filed fraudulently and to create a false association with the new Amarillo baseball team.”
Additionally, the team went on to say they plan to make a $5,000 contribution to a local charity to make up for the stop of sales of Green’s merchandise. Green had previously named Amarillo Area Youth Center and Donley County Community Fund as the benefactors of the profits from his Sod Poodles merchandise.
For the club’s full statement, see below.
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Panhandle Baseball Club, Inc., owner of the Amarillo SOD POODLES Double-A baseball team, filed a request for an injunction against Stone Ranch and Dusty Green on December 26, 2018, and was granted a Temporary Restraining Order on January 2, 2019. Stone Ranch and Mr. Green can no longer sell or distribute Sod Poodles clothing.
Despite Mr. Green’s statements on this matter, he does not have trademark rights in the name SOD POODLES. In reality, Mr. Green only has a pending trademark application with no rights to the name SOD POODLES. It is Panhandle Baseball’s position that Mr. Green’s trademark application was filed fraudulently and to create a false association with the new Amarillo baseball team.
Mr. Green’s current use of the name SOD POODLES on t-shirts is merely ornamental use and does not grant him or his company any trademarks rights. Therefore, he is using the name SOD POODLES for no other reason than to harass Panhandle Baseball and confuse fans and consumers as to the source of the clothing he is currently selling.
Amarillo and the country have embraced the SOD POODLES name, logos and team. We are not going to allow Mr. Green to take away such a treasured name from this community just because Mr. Green does not like the name.
In order to protect its SOD POODLES trademark, Panhandle Baseball had no choice but to ask the court to grant an injunction to stop Mr. Green’s unauthorized and illegal use of the name SOD POODLES.
According to Mr. Green’s statement of December 20th, he planned to donate profits from the sale of the t-shirts to a local charity. To ensure that the community is the ultimate beneficiary of this situation, Panhandle Baseball will make a $5,000 donation to an Amarillo charity.
This team, our name, and baseball are all about excitement and fun. Amarillo SOD POODLES baseball is all about providing a great experience for our community to enjoy baseball in a wholesome setting so that families can create their own memories for years to come. Panhandle Baseball looks forward to putting this unfortunate situation to rest and focusing on bringing professional baseball to Amarillo in April 2019.
