Baseball Mascots and the Law

Attorney Christian Brill is speaking this week at the 27th Cooperstown Symposium on Baseball and American Culture at the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum in Cooperstown, New York.  The presentation, made with Prof. Howard W. Brill, is entitled “Baseball Mascots and the Law” and covers such areas of law as tort law, intellectual property law, and employment law.

Brill will discuss a variety of legal questions involving mascots, such as:

• Can a fan sue a team for injuries resulting from objects thrown by a mascot?
• Can a California or Ohio plaintiff sue if he was distracted by a mascot’s performance when he was injured by a foul ball?
• Is a mascot’s act involving a large purple dinosaur trademark infringement or parody?
• Do the actions of an “unofficial mascot” tarnish the protected trademarks of a baseball franchise?
• Can a mascot be fired for disparaging comments posted on social media?
• Does the arrest of protestors burning a mascot effigy violate free speech rights?

The Cooperstown Symposium on Baseball and American Culture, co-sponsored by SUNY Oneonta and the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum, examines the impact of baseball on American culture from interdisciplinary and multi-disciplinary perspectives.