This is going to end up a very short post, even if the research ended up taking a while! We decided to compare the extent to which Major League Baseball and the Premier League teams protected their IP, comparing US filings for the Premier League teams and EUIPO filings for the baseball teams.

Baseball had pretty comprehensive filings for key marks in the EUIPO in Classes 25 (clothing merch) and 41 (games / etc.). The top of the Prem’s financial tables had similar coverage, but the bottom — newly promoted or up-and-down teams like Leeds, Burnley, Fulham, West Brom, and Sheffield United — had no US coverage; Aston Villa had a registration in Class 25 but not 41. Even an upper-middle-class team, by both the table and revenues, Everton, had no US filings for its house mark.

What accounts for this difference? It may be due to organizational differences. While MLB teams own their own marks domestically, MLB registers marks on its teams’ behalf internationally. Teams in the Prem appear to on their own — and a less-popular team may view international coverage as a great investment if they just don’t have much of a fan base outside of their local market. Among the US major sports, baseball and hockey are generally thought of as having more local fan bases than the nationally-driven interest in the NBA and NFL, but they haven’t stinted on their European brand protection efforts.