Security guard and amateur artist Frederick Bouchat is accusing the Ravens of copyright infringement, and challenging the NFL's use of the franchise's old logo, "saying in two pending lawsuits that he's getting no credit for a design that has resurfaced on television, on the Internet and in popular video games," according to Lorraine Mirabella of the Baltimore SUN. Bouchat has "long maintained the 'Flying B' logo used from 1996 through 1998 was stolen from a drawing he created months before the team announced its name and logo." A federal jury "ruled in Bouchat's favor in 1998, and the Ravens adopted a new logo the next season." The cases, which "accuse the Ravens and NFL of continuing to profit from Bouchat's design, will likely revolve around a novel legal question -- whether the design has become a piece of history and therefore can be used freely." Last November, a federal judge "ordered the NFL and Ravens to compensate Bouchat for the logo's appearance in highlight films sold by the NFL, a result of a lawsuit Bouchat filed in 2008." The compensation "has not yet been determined." Bouchat's attorney, Howard Schulman, said that the Ravens "continue to use the Bouchat logo." The lawsuit, filed Wednesday in federal court in Baltimore, states that at M&T Bank Stadium, "nine large photographs prominently show the Bouchat logo." The photos show former players such as QB Vinny Testaverde, OT Jonathan Ogden and WR Jermaine Lewis "sporting the old logo." The lawsuit argues that Bouchat "has exclusive rights under copyright laws to reproduce, publish or display his work and that 'any commercial reproduction or display of the infringing logo' is in violation." The Ravens and the NFL "deny they are profiting from using the logo" (Baltimore SUN, 7/3).
