The Washington Nationals professional baseball team's growing brand name may be lost forever if the U.S. District Court rules against Major League Baseball ("MLB"). Two primary brand drivers for the Washington Nationals' brand value are the teams success and merchandise sales. The Washington Nationals had a successful initial season in Washington D.C. finishing with a record of 81-81 and being among the top teams in merchandise sales for the 2005 season. This showed the power of the brand that MLB may lose in its current trademark dispute with Bygone Sports ("Bygone"), a Cincinnati based sports apparel company.

MLB suffered a setback in their quest to correct an error it committed when moving the Montreal Expos, a team MLB collectively owns, to Washington D.C. for the 2005 season. When the move became official, the parties involved decided to rename the franchise the Washington Nationals. However, MLB was not aware that Bygone had filed a trademark application in September 2002 for the term "Washington Nationals", which would give Bygone the exclusive right to merchandise apparel with the Washington Nationals name on it.

When MLB became aware of the problem it tried to negotiate with Bygone for the rights to the name and believed they had struck a deal on November 12, 2004. Bygone's attorney, Roger Kaplan, says that MLB was being "overburdensome" in the negotiations and Bygone stopped the negotiations at that point. MLB claimed that a deal was made and that Bygone was acting in bad faith after raising the price for the trademark rights from 0,000 to .5 million. Bygone also requested in its original offer four tickets to World Series and all-star games for the next twenty years, bats, balls, and jersey's signed by the Nationals and the right to have two individuals sit in the dugout during a game. Both parties claim that the opposing party is at fault in the deterioration of the negotiations. MLB proceeded to sue Bygone and Bygone filed a counterclaim against MLB.

The U.S. District Court in Manhattan is currently hearing the suits with a trial scheduled to begin on April 3, 2006. Each party has filed motions for summary judgment, which the Court will rule on before the April 3rd trial date that, if granted, can possibly end the whole issue. The situation has been affected by a recent ruling by the United States Patent and Trademark Office ("USPTO") that Bygone could register the term Washington Nationals, which opens the door for Bygone to seek an injunction that would prevent the "Baseball Expos L.P.", as the team is legally referred to in legal documents, from using the name.

MLB has argued that Bygone is merely a squattor who is not using the name for legitimate business purposes and therefore should be forced to give the name to the team, which does have a legitimate business purpose for the name. This is the legal burden that Bygone must prove to legally hold on to the name, showing that they have a legitimate business purpose and that the Washington Nationals name is based on it. Bygone may have a hard time meeting this standard as their only business at this point in time is the sale of t-shirts with the Washington Nationals name on it, in different colors, for seven dollars a piece. Bygone claims that it will soon sell hats and are attempting to trademark other team names in furtherance of their business.

MLB and Bygone have tried to negotiate a deal with reasonable terms, have sued each other in U.S. District court, and are now about through dealing with each other. It did not appear that any last minute negotiations would happen, but the USPTO ruling may change that as Bygone now may be granted the injunction preventing use of the name as the 2006 MLB season nears. A settlement between the parties will be an indication of the brand value of the name and a stalemate will continue to diminish the brand's value.