USFL: FOX Sports faces lawsuit over football league

The United States Soccer League was scheduled to begin in April, with FOX Sports leading a new version of the league that ran from 1983 to 1985. That is uncertain, however, after USFL owners original filed a lawsuit Monday against the network regarding the league of the same name, calling it a “brazen infringement.”

the trial said the outlet had copied the original logo along with the eight team names and branding without permission from the original league creators. Additionally, he claims that FOX Sports “did on the false narrative” that the new USFL was a reboot of the original.

The lawsuit filed includes claims of trademark infringement, false advertising and deceptive association.

“Fox has no right to this legacy and no right to capitalize on the league’s goodwill,” the lawsuit states in part. “Even less has Fox the right to mislead the public into thinking this is the USFL or that Fox’s League teams were the USFL teams.”

An attorney representing FOX Sports and the new USFL responded to the lawsuit on Tuesday, saying in a statement to Deadline that the complaint is “completely without merit”, also claiming that “the new USFL registered its intellectual property rights in 2011 and is excited to launch games on schedule on April 16. Eleventh Hour’s attempt to extract value of the exciting new USFL is totally frivolous, and we are exploring all repair options.

Steve Young, Reggie White and Herschel Walker all played in the original USFL. The Real USFL LLC, which is the holding company created by former USFL team owners, said it still licenses the brand for returning apparel, books and movies.

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