Bouchat v. Baltimore Ravens, Inc. and National Football League Properties

Team:
Emanuel Logothetis
Andrew Adams

Bouchat v. Baltimore Ravens, Inc. and National Football League Properties

The case is a lawsuit between Frederick E. Bouchat, a citizen of Baltimore,
Maryland, against the Baltimore Ravens Football Club and the National Football
League. Bouchat filed this complaint through his attorney on May 8th, 1997 in
United States District Court for the District of Maryland Northern Division. Bouchat
is claiming that he created three original drawings, titled “The Ravens”, “Ravens 3”,
and “Ravens 4” that depicted a raven in many different forms and positions around
the date of December 5, 1995, to recognize the newly established Baltimore Ravens
football club and their move from Cleveland, Ohio. He then applied for and received
copyrights effective July 25, 1996 for “The Ravens” and on August 8th, 1996
for “Ravens 3” and “Ravens 4”. When the team was officially named the Ravens,
Bouchat was approached by John Moag, who was an employee at the Maryland
Stadium Authority. Moag commented on the drawings that Bouchat had drawn
up, and said that he could get them to the Ravens if he wanted to share them. After
their conversation, Bouchat faxed the drawings to Moag, who passed them on to the
Ravens, making sure that his name and the date of creation were on the drawings.
Shortly after receiving the drawing,s the Ravens copied Bouchat’s drawings and
declared them as their logos and trademarks. Since this decision was made, the
Ravens had been selling, distributing, and reproducing Bouchat’s copyrighted
drawings illegally in order to make profits and promote the team. Bouchat then sued
again, lost, and lost on appeal again.

Bouchat had asked the court for damages in the value of ten millions dollars
in order to make up for the lost profits that he believed he was entitled to by
creating the logo. He also asked for the Ravens and the NFL to relinquish any
profits and advantages that they gained through the illegal use of the copyrighted
drawings. The case was tried and decided in 1998, with the court ruling that the
Ravens did in fact infringe on the copyrights that were granted to Bouchat, but
Bouchat was not given any monetary compensation as the money made by the
Ravens was not necessarily because of the logo itself, as stated by the 4th District
Court of Appeals in 2003: "[i]f the use of the Flying B logo to designate the Ravens
could not reasonably be found to have affected the amount of revenue obtained
from an activity, the revenue from that activity could not reasonably be found
attributable to the infringement.". Since the decision in 1998, Bouchat has appealed
and refiled the case in multiple fashions in regards to continued distribution of the
logo.