Opinion ID: 2583
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: MLBP's Licensing and Policing Activities

Text: MLBP was incorporated in 1966 by the then-existing MLB Clubs (under the name Major League Baseball Promotion Corporation) as a wholly-owned subsidiary of MLBE. Each of the current MLB Clubs owns an equal interest in MLBE and shares equally in its profits. Prior to the formation of MLBP in 1966, there had been no centralized source for the licensing of MLB Intellectual Property, a fact that was cited to MLBP by potential licensees as the reason for baseball's exclusion from certain marketing programs. ( See Salvino Response to MLBP Rule 56.1 Statement ¶ 20.) For example, at a December 1966 meeting of the executive committee of MLBP's board of directors, representatives of the Coca-Cola Company described a football-related under-the-cap promotion that Coca-Cola had begun three years earlier with the NFL. The representatives stated that Coca-Cola had been unwilling to consider such a promotion using baseball team logos because MLB's structure, on a nationwide basis, was `entirely too cumbersome.' ( Id. ¶ 22.) According to the minutes of that meeting, the representatives stated that Coca-Cola became willing to consider an under-the-cap promotion using MLB Intellectual Property once the company learned that the Clubs were creating an entity that could negotiate an agreement on behalf of all of the Clubs. When created in 1966, MLBP was given (a) the exclusive right to market and promote the official name and logo of Major League Baseball, (b) a non-exclusive right to license the names and logos of the National and American Leagues, and (c) the right to submit licensing proposals for Club marks to the Clubs for their approval. ( See Salvino Response to MLBP Rule 56.1 Statement ¶ 16.) Since 1984, MLBP's operations and the relationships between MLBP and the Clubs have been governed by a series of three-to-five-year agency agreements, collectively called the Agency Agreement. In 1984, the Agency Agreement increased MLBP's authority by giving it the exclusive right  subject to limited exceptions  to license Club names and logos for use on retail products for national and international ( i.e., not merely local) distribution. ( See id. ¶ 17.) In 1987, the Agency Agreement further expanded MLBP's authority, granting it the exclusive right (again with limited exceptions) to license Club names and logos for use on products to be sold at retail within the Clubs' respective local markets. ( See id. ¶ 18.) Thus, since 1987, the retail sale of any products bearing an MLB Club's name or logos must be licensed by MLBP, even if the products are sold at a concession stand inside the Club's stadium. From 1966 until 1987, MLBP had relied on the Licensing Corporation of America (LCA) as its subagent to license MLB Intellectual Property. LCA, however, also marketed the intellectual property of a number of other groups, including the NHL and NHL teams. And, in addition, as a division of Warner Communications, LCA licensed intellectual property relating to numerous cartoon and comic book characters. ( See Salvino Responses to MLBP Rule 56.1 Statement ¶¶ 23, 24.) In 1987, when MLBP's exclusive right to grant licenses for use of the Clubs' intellectual property on retail products was expanded to encompass the Clubs' respective local markets, MLBP ceased to grant licenses through LCA and began licensing MLB Intellectual Property directly. ( See id. ¶ 25.) In that year, total revenues from the licensing of MLBP Intellectual Property more than doubled; and between January 1, 1987, and October 24, 1988, MLBP increased the number of its licensees from 100 to 250. ( See id. ¶¶ 26, 28.) By August 2003, when it filed its Rule 56.1 Statement, MLBP had outstanding more than 300 licenses for the production of some 4,000 different products for retail sale in the United States bearing or reflecting MLB Intellectual Property ( see id. ¶ 35), and had issued licenses to some 170 licensees for such products to be sold outside of the United States ( see id. ¶ 36). The Agency Agreement and the Operating Guidelines that are incorporated in it leave the Clubs free to grant licenses with respect to their own intellectual property to a limited extent. For example, a Club is allowed to issue licenses for the use of its intellectual property on products that it gives away at a home game; intellectual property of the visiting Club in such a game may also be used on the giveaway product with the approval of the visiting Club and MLBP. ( See Salvino Responses to MLBP Rule 56.1 Statement ¶¶ 12, 14.) No other MLBP license or approval is required for such giveaways so long as they do not include the marks of another MLB Club, MLBP, or the BOC. ( See id. ) In addition, a Club may use its own marks or license others to use its marks to create home video products about the individual Club, to be sold or given away within the Club's home broadcasting territory (as defined for each Club in the Operating Guidelines). MLBP licenses the use of BOC and MLBP marks for use in such home videos at the request of the Club. The Operating Guidelines also provide that a Club may license the use of its marks on hot dogs and similar items distributed or sold within its home broadcasting territory; MLBP has no authority to grant licenses for such items without obtaining the Club's prior approval. A Club also has the right, within its home broadcasting territory, to use and license others to use its marks to advertise and promote the Club's cruises and fantasy, educational, or summer camps. Under the Agency Agreement, MLBP is also responsible for, inter alia, protecting and licensing logos and trademarks owned by the MLB Clubs, such as the SF logo of the San Francisco Giants, and protecting and licensing logos and trademarks owned by the BOC and MLBP itself, such as the Major League Baseball word mark, the World Series logos, and the famous silhouetted batter logo. ( See Salvino Response to MLBP Rule 56.1 Statement ¶ 3.) The Agency Agreement provides that, as the exclusive licensor of the Clubs' intellectual property for use on products to be sold at retail, MLBP guarantees to the Clubs that all licenses will impose quality controls and will enhance the image of MLB, and that MLBP will protect and preserve the intellectual property of the Clubs and the goodwill that that property represents. Infringing parties often use the trademarks of multiple Clubs, with the result that more than one Club's intellectual property rights are infringed simultaneously. ( See Salvino Response to MLBP Rule 56.1 Statement ¶ 66.) As a centralized licensing agent, MLBP is able to identify from its own records whether a particular product bearing MLB Intellectual Property is licensed and thus to determine efficiently whether or not it infringes on MLB Intellectual Property. ( See id. ¶ 71.) In order to protect that property, MLBP sends or causes to be sent more than 100 cease-and-desist letters every year. ( See id. ¶ 67.)