A Baltimore man has sued the Ravens for copyright infringement, alleging that the franchise continues to profit from a logo that he designed in 1995.
Frederick E. Bouchat, a security guard from South Baltimore, filed suit last week in U.S. District Court. The amateur artist has long claimed that he created and copyrighted the franchise's original logo. He says the Ravens copied the image and gave him no credit.
In the lawsuit, he says the Ravens have continued to show the logo in various films featuring clips from the 1996, 1997 and 1998 seasons. Bouchat also names NFL Films, the National Football League and The Sun as defendants in the case, because all sell films or photos featuring the logo.
Bouchat asks that a judge order all film and copies of the logo be returned to him so he can destroy them. He also wants the judge to issue an injunction barring the defendants from using the logo.
In 1998, Bouchat convinced a federal jury that he had created the logo months before the team unveiled it. But last fall, the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Richmond, Va., upheld a lower court's ruling that Bouchat was not entitled to compensation for the drawing.
The Ravens maintain that their designers never saw Bouchat's drawing before creating the logo and that they changed the emblem once they became aware of the copyright problem. Team spokesman Kevin Byrne said he was unaware of the suit and had no comment.
Karen Kaiser, an attorney for The Sun's parent, the Tribune Company, said she could not comment on pending litigation.
childs.walker@baltsun.com