MLB strikes out in bid to trademark ‘play ball’

Digital Curator

Major League Baseball struck out last week when the United States Patent and Trademark Office denied the league’s request to trademark the term “Play Ball.”

The USPTO issued the ruling on Friday.

“In this case, the applied-for mark is a commonplace term, message, or expression widely used by a variety of sources that merely conveys an ordinary, familiar, well-recognized concept or sentiment,” the USPTO wrote in its denial.

The USPTO cited various dictionary definitions of “play ball” and a plethora of companies that use the term for clothing, marketing, and other goods, highlighting the term’s ubiquity.

Additionally, the USPTO used “drive safely” as a comparable term that car companies couldn’t trademark, writing that phrases “that merely convey an informational message are not registerable.”

Trademark attorney Josh Gerben of Gerben IP told ESPN that the key question in determining a trademark is whether consumers who hear the term would automatically think of the company applying for it.

“If the average consumer can’t do that, then the argument is that it’s too general of a phrase or too commonplace of a phrase for one company to own,” Gerben said.

Gerben noted that trademarks related to “play ball” have been issued to other entities, including a bubble gum company, a minerals company and an annual gala fundraiser, likely because they were not seeking to own the phrase itself and would use it in a highly specific way.

According to ESPN, MLB initially applied for the trademark in 2022. It currently owns or has applied for around 200 active trademarks, including the MLB logo, the phrases “Take Me Out to the Ballgame,” “Home Run Derby,” and “Spring Training” for clothing.