Buccaneers take legal action to block Saints trademark
A trademark battle has begun between two NFL teams.
The Buccaneers have taken legal action to block a trademark filed by the Saints for "SAINTS CHEER KREWE."
Why?
Per filings, the Bucs claim they were the first to use the term KREWE.
A thread 🧵#GoBucs #Saints pic.twitter.com/dd0addsYg2
— Josh Gerben (@JoshGerben) May 19, 2023
The Tampa Bay Buccaneers are once again facing off against the New Orleans Saints — in the court of law.
Trademark Attorney Josh Gerben tweeted on Friday that the Bucs are suing the Saints in an attempt to block them from trademarking the phrase “Saints Cheer Krewe” in relation to its cheerleaders. The Bucs contend this clashes with its own use of the word “Krewe” in numerous aspects of its branding.
The phrase “Krewe” is a phrase used to describe an organization that heads a parade. The term is most famously used in conjunction with Mardi Gras celebrations in New Orleans, but it’s also used in the context of Tampa’s Gasparilla celebration it holds every year. The Bucs trademarked the phrase in 2021 and have used it as a sort of play on words to refer to its fans in numerous aspects such as in promotional materials, clothing branding and marketing, among other things.
The Saints, in its Mardi Gras interpretation, use it for their cheerleaders. Tampa Bay maintains that it has trademark priority, meaning that it believes it filed on it first.
Gerben followed up by tweeting that he was “surprised” the Buccaneers took legal action, as he believed the two could likely have settled out of court and both continued to use the phrase.
