Nfl Properties

First there were cards. Then came premium cards, followed quickly by super premium cards.Topps and Score, with sets at the low and high ends, are staking out the middle.Topps has repositioned its Bowman line as a premium card between Topps and Stadium Club, and Score is bringing out Select, which fits between Score and Pinnacle, in December.With Bowman, paper stock has been upgraded to that of Topps Archive, and like Archive, there will be no factory sets. The new Bowman was launched with the just-released 1992 baseball set. Football will be out later this month, followed by hockey in November.

Two Baltimore Ravens have bared their talons, preparing to go to battle over the right to retain their name.The Baltimore Raven Wheelchair Basketball Club Inc., founded in 1970, filed suit in U.S. District Court yesterday against the Baltimore Ravens football team and NFL Properties Inc. over the exclusive right to use the Ravens name.The basketball Ravens are asking for unspecified damages for trademark infringement, as well as an injunction prohibiting the team from using the names "Baltimore Ravens" or "Ravens" in the Baltimore market.

The Supreme Court declined yesterday to hear a Maryland case in which a state security guard claimed that the Baltimore Ravens copied its original logo from his sketches, clearing the way for the amateur artist to pursue millions of dollars in damages. The Ravens had sought a review of the case brought by Frederick E. Bouchat, a Pigtown man who convinced a federal jury in 1998 that the Raven's former bird-and-shield logo replicated a drawing he had made months before the team's name and logo were announced.

One day before the CFL Colts play their first game ever, club owner Jim Speros and his legal counsel will be in federal court in Indianapolis "fighting for our lives," he said.Or at least fighting for his team's identity.U.S. District Judge Larry J. McKinney yesterday denied a motion by Speros' attorneys for a delay in a preliminary injunction hearing in the trademark rights case over use of the name Colts.That means the hearing will go on as scheduled next Thursday. On Friday night, the Colts play their exhibition opener in Shreveport, La., against the expansion Pirates.

Baltimore CFL owner Jim Speros said yesterday that he doesn't want to spend "another $250,000" in a losing cause over the Colts name, but left a door open that might lead to the Supreme Court.Speros, who lost an appeal Friday of the preliminary injunction issued June 27, has called a 2 p.m. news conference today to announce the direction he'll take in the six-month legal battle with the NFL, NFL Properties and the Indianapolis Colts.After talking with his lead attorney, George Pappas of the Venable, Baetjer and Howard firm, yesterday, Speros said there was a "gray area" he may explore.

Cleveland Browns officials have had internal discussions about the possibility of acquiring the nickname Colts, a team source said, but it's unlikely they will be able to pry it away from the Indianapolis franchise or the NFL.If Browns owner Art Modell, who plans to move his team to Baltimore for the 1996 season, got permission to use the Colts name, NFL Properties, which has the rights to market and protect the names, colors and logos of the league's 30...

The National Football League won another round in court this week when U.S. District Judge William M. Nickerson denied Jim Speros' motion to hear the trademark rights case over use of the name Colts in Baltimore.Nickerson instead granted an NFL motion to stay the entire Maryland case until the U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit in Chicago rules on Baltimore's appeal over the preliminary injunction.He also denied Speros' request for an Aug. 8 trial date.Speros, owner of Baltimore's Canadian Football League team, filed for declaratory judgment in Maryland federal court last March 1 seeking to gain the legal right to use the name Baltimore CFL Colts.

The Ravens are planning to modify the look of their uniforms, starting with the primary logo that produced a defeat in the courtroom last fall. For the past three seasons, Ravens players have worn helmets that featured a shield sporting wings, with a "B" at its center. That is about to change, since a federal jury found Nov. 3 that the Ravens copied that logo from an amateur artist who could collect more than $10 million in damages because of copyright infringement. The team, which along with the NFL is appealing the verdict, plans to replace the shield with the secondary trademark that players have worn on the front pocket area of their pants.

A 54-year-old Westminster man has pleaded guilty in Carroll County Circuit Court to theft schemes and security fraud involving phony documents from Pepsi Cola and the NFL that persuaded three groups of victims to invest money with him, according to court records and prosecutors. Benjamin Harrison Higgs III of the 900 block of Burning Tree Court pleaded guilty to four of 42 counts filed against him in June: three counts of felony-theft scheme and one count of fraudulently offering a security - involving people from Maryland and other states - according to the court file and a statement of facts by Senior Assistant State's Attorney Melissa O. Hockensmith.

Baltimore and Ravens go together like, well, Baltimore and Colts used to. Although the Colts name remains near and dear to fans of a certain age, it's hard to imagine that any name but Ravens was contemplated when the new team came to Charm City from Cleveland for the 1996 season. Long before the move became a reality, however, the name Rhinos was bandied about. It was dropped when locals pawed the ground, lowered their heads and snorted menacingly. For the expansion Baltimore franchise, NFL Properties compiled a list of 100 names, including Bombers, Steamers, Mustangs and Railers.