Smith and Wesson IP Lawsuit against a minor league soccer club… do you see a resemblance?
Help out the newly minted Fort Wayne Football Club! The gun maker, Smith and Wesson, is suing our club for infringement on their S&W word mark.
To share a little bit of the design process, Christopher Payne’s original concept was the inclusion of a rose and the letters were an extension of that with the letters of the monogram having thorn attributes. We ultimately abandoned the rose portion of the crest but loved the edginess of the thorns.
Full post from one of the team’s board members:
I need your help please.
I would like to see if I can get some feedback from our Fort Wayne Football Club community. Back in January or February of ‘25, the club embarked on a rebrand journey for the club to align with our move to USL1 and into our new home, Ruoff Mortgage Stadium. We put out an RFP and reviewed several proposals before selecting a talented artist who specializes in football crests. He has a nice portfolio with clubs in North America and Europe.
Once we completed the six or seven month process and settled on our brand marks, we immediately filed to protect our intellectual property. Much to our surprise, we received a letter from Smith and Wesson challenging our filing and claiming that we enfringed upon their copyrighted brand logo. We immediately hired an attorney specializing in intellectual property rights. We tried to explain why we absolutely didn’t steal their logo. This week, Smith and Wesson filed suit against the club. They want us to abandon our club crest.
What I’m asking this evening is your opinion on whether our club crest—essentially a monogram— is the same as the Smith and Wesson’s logo and the general public will think they’re dealing with Smith and Wesson when they see our monogram.
To share a little bit of the design process, Christopher Payne’s original concept was the inclusion of a rose and the letters were an extension of that with the letters of the monogram having thorn attributes. We ultimately abandoned the rose portion of the crest but loved the edginess of the thorns.
Drop your opinion in the comments.