Leave it to MLB

You would almost think that Major League Baseball had a desire to kill off baseball in Washington forever. First came the stadium fiasco, and now the revelation concerning the patent dispute regarding the Nationals' name:

A lawsuit over the trademark rights for the "Washington Nationals" name is currently in federal court in Manhattan.

Cincinnati-based Bygone Sports, a company specializing in historic sporting gear, applied for the federal trademark registration under the "Washington Nationals" name in September of 2002, when the team was still called the Expos.

The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office awarded the trademark to Bygone last week, meaning the team can still be called the Nationals, but cannot sell any clothing under that name.

Major League Baseball had filed a protest with the Patent Office, but their claim was rejected. Now, both sides are suing each other.

According to the New York Times, which first reported the merchandise snafu, Major League Baseball thought they had a deal with Bygone before they announced the team's new name, but the deal fell through when Bygone raised their asking price from $130,000 to $1.5 million.

Roger Kaplan, an attorney for Bygone tells WTOP, "If Major League Baseball offered what was considered to be an appropriate price for the mark, Bygone would consider selling the mark to Major League Baseball."

Which more than likely means that team would no longer be the Nationals, since they would be unable to make money on the name:

If the court rules against Baseball, the Nationals would lose the right to sell apparel with the team's name on it -- although it would still be allowed to use the name on its uniforms. MLB has said it will change the name of the team if it loses in court.

It is amazing what you get out of Major League Baseball. One would have thought that MLB would have their ducks in a row before rolling out the name of the team in a glitzy display, especially considering the league still owns the team, and considering that the league had to expect that Nationals merchandise would be selling at a swift clip in the team's first few season. One almost wonders if MLB just went with it considering that Mayor Tony Williams, whose support was key to the stadium deal, favored the name "Nationals" all along.

Makes you wonder if the Rangers ownership is going to be willing to discuss the rights to the name "Washington Senators" sometime soon...