CLEVELAND — After months of speculation, the local professional baseball team in Cleveland will be able to officially use the name Guardians.
According to a joint statement released by the baseball team and the roller derby team, both of which are now called the Cleveland Guardians, the name will be continued to be used by both organizations.
"The Cleveland Guardians Baseball Company, LLC and Guardians Roller Derby are pleased to announce an amicable resolution of the lawsuit filed by Guardians Roller Derby, whereby both organizations will continue to use the Guardians name," the statement read.
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It was confirmed in 2020 that the baseball team would be changing its nickname from "Indians" to something else, with the announcement of "Guardians" as the new nickname coming earlier this summer. A lawsuit was filed by the roller derby team claiming the baseball team was aware of the roller derby team's name, with the complaint stating that Major League Baseball would never allow other sports teams to copy the names of one of its baseball teams.
"The same laws that protect baseball team owners' trademark rights, though, also work in reverse," the complaint said at the time. "A Major League club cannot simply take a smaller team’s name and use it for itself. Confusion would still arise. Yet that is precisely what Defendant, Cleveland Guardians Baseball Company, LLC (f/k/a Cleveland Indians Baseball Company), seeks to do."
The baseball team has still not officially changed its public branding or made new gear available. Now, with this lawsuit settled, that may be the next step.
You can see the document announcing the dismissal of the lawsuit below:
Editor's Note: The below video features previous reporting on this story