An amateur comic book artist is vowing to fight on in his copyright infringement suit against the Baltimore Ravens.
Attorneys for Frederick Bouchat say he is undeterred after a federal judge threw out his suit seeking to prevent the Ravens from using his logo in the future.
Bouchat, whose drawing of a winged Baltimore Ravens shield was copied and used by the team as an identifying symbol for three years, says he now plans to take his suit to U.S. Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals in Richmond.
“They’re still selling films with his intellectual property in it,” Bouchat’s attorney, Howard Schulman, said of the Ravens. “They’re still using it at games.”
In prior court rulings, Bouchat — a lifelong fan of comic books and football — established that the Ravens infringed upon his copyright of the so-called “Shield Drawing,” but he was unable to recover any monetary damages.
The origins of the dispute stem from 1995 when Bouchat was employed as a security guard at a state office building in Baltimore and drew a series of logos for the new team — even posting the “Shield Drawing” at the guard station in the entrance of his building, according to U.S. District Court Judge Marvin Garbis’ opinion.
Because of his drawings, Bouchat was introduced to the chairman of the Maryland Stadium Authority, who asked him to send a sketch to the president of the Ravens, the judge’s ruling states. Bouchat included a note stating: “If he would like this design if he does use it I would like a letter of recognition and if the team wants to I would like a adiograph (sic)[autographed] helmet.”
Through a series of misunderstandings, Bouchat’s “Shield Drawing” was sent to the Stadium Authority Chairman’s law office, forwarded to the Ravens’ temporary headquarters, forwarded to the NFL in New York and then to the commercial artists working on the Ravens project, the judge wrote.
“There is no reason to believe that the Ravens or NFL intentionally caused the Shield Drawing to be provided to the artists,” Garbis wrote. “Nevertheless, the Shield Drawing was provided to the artists who used Bouchat’s drawing as the basis for the ‘Flying B Logo.’”
The NFL and Ravens, believing that the “Flying B Logo” had been developed as a completely original work, used the logo as the team’s primary identification symbol, the judge wrote.
In June of 1996, Bouchat first became aware the Ravens had copied his drawing without permission and hired counsel. His latest suit, filed in February, seeks to stop the Ravens from continuing to display the logo.
But Garbis last month ruled the Ravens continued use of the logo is considered “fair use” under federal law and does not constitute an infringement of copyright.
Schulman said Bouchat is “disappointed” by the judge’s ruling, but hopes to win on appeal.
“He is the creator of that design,” Schulman said.
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