The National Football League may be backing off from its claims that a local brand is infringing on its trademark.
Last week, the NFL sent Defend New Orleans a cease-and-desist letter demanding that it stop using it's signature logo on apparel. The league said in that letter that Defend New Orleans's fleur-de-lis-and-skull design infringes on its trademarks for the New Orleans Saints.
Now, Defend New Orleans's attorney says this matter may be resolved sooner rather than later.
"I think that, maybe, the NFL jumped the gun a little bit here," Scott Sternberg told WWL's Newell Normand.
Sternberg said the NFL didn't realize Defend New Orleans had been using the same fleur-de-lis and skull logo for nearly 20 years. Sternberg also said the NFL didn't know the DNO logo represents New Orleans's rebound from Hurricane Katrina and not a bootlegged Saints emblem.
"The idea is: When people see the Defend New Orleans shirt, are they confused? Like, did that look to someone--a reasonable consumer--that it's the Saints? And, of course, it doesn't invoke the Saints. People don't see that t-shirt and say, 'Oh, that's the Saints,'" Sternberg said. "It was a question of whether we would come back, and New Orleans is one of the greatest cities in the world because of who we are and what we are, and not necessarily where we are," Sternberg said.
Sternberg told WWL's Newell Normand that he has been in contact with the NFL to discuss the matter. He also expects this matter to be resolved without litigation.
"I don't think they're going to sue us, and I don't think they are going to a letter to a New Orleans-based business again without talking to someone talking to someone who lives here," Sternberg said. "If you don't protect your trademark, you lose it, and the NFL probably didn't know how long we had been using it, or they probably wouldn't have sent that letter."
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