Mark Kassa (Facebook photo)
Mark Kassa (Facebook photo)
It's not the most creative slogan to come out of the D, but apparently it's worth fighting over.
Mark Kassa of West Bloomfield, the host of the “Welcome to the D Show” Internet talk show and a guitarist-vocalist with the band Slight Return, is suing the Detroit Tigers over the “Welcome to the D” slogan, reports Tresa Baldas of the Detroit Free Press. He's accusing the team of trademark infringement.
The lawsuit claims Kassa he coined the phrase in 2009, but the Tigers stole it from him a year later, using it in a 2010 promotional event at Comerica Park. The suit alleges that the Tigers ignored his exclusive rights to use it on clothing like T-shirts and hats.
He has a right to protect his originality and his brand, and that’s exactly what he’s doing,” his attorney, Scott Yaldo of Birmingham, tells the Freep. . “Any inventor or author of a piece of work would do the same thing . . . I think the Tigers knew or should have known about (the trademark’s) existence, and nonetheless used it to their benefit. It’s really offensive.”
