Youth-league founder to fight trademark suit

A Florida man originally from Montgomery County who recently started a Christian youth baseball league has decided to fight a trademark lawsuit by Little League baseball, while a Jewish youth organization in Connecticut said it would change its name after being threatened with a similar suit.

Jay Kaplan, 46, formerly of Elkins Park and now of Pompano Beach, responded to an April 18 federal lawsuit filed in Fort Lauderdale against the Christian Little League by saying he would fight the case in court because God created the name.

The Fairfield County Connecticut Jewish Little League is not taking the same course. Its league president, Seth Marlowe, was sent a cease-and-desist letter by Little League baseball yesterday and said after receiving the e-mail that his league would comply with the request to change its name.

"We have all intentions of complying, they have every right to do that," said Marlowe, whose league has been in existence for over 10 years and has 170 players ages 4 to 14. "We have no desire to fight this."

Kaplan was raised Jewish while attending Cheltenham Township schools and lived in the Philadelphia area until the age of 27. He now preaches the beliefs of Jesus Christ.

The lawsuit stated that Kaplan "has willfully and knowingly adopted and used the designation Christian Little League in connection with his youth baseball program for the purposes of trading on the reputation and goodwill of Little League."

Kaplan, whose two boys participate in his league, said yesterday that he would fight the case and believes "God wants to raise his children in a holy way. In order to raise children in a holy way, we have to tell them to do things God's way, tell them who God is," he said.

"People say, 'How do you know?' It's easy: I do my homework, and read the Bible, cover to cover. That's the proof."

Christopher Downs, a spokesman for Little League headquarters in South Williamsport, Pa., said Little League had not been aware of the Fairfield County Jewish league until yesterday. He said any other organization using the trademark name would receive the same cease-and-desist demands that these two leagues have received.

Downs provided this statement from Little League baseball:

"Little League International supports the establishment of youth sports programs that are a service to the children and families of any community. However, we will continue to vigorously protect the trademarks belonging to us. It has always been the position of Little League that no local league anywhere has the legal right to use the trademarks without first becoming a chartered league."

Little League officials first informed Kaplan on March 7 that he needed to change his league's name. The first games of the Christian Little League were played March 14, though Kaplan had advertised his league for several weeks before.

Kaplan, who has 25 children ages 10 to 13 in his league, said he believes it is not trademark infringement because "there is no confusing Christian Little League and ministry of the Gospel with a secular organization such as Little League baseball."

Kaplan wrote on March 15 in a four-page response to the cease-and-desist letter by Little League lawyers that "the words little and league do not belong to your client ... they belong to God and the people."

He said that he formed the Christian Little League to teach kids about God and the Bible and to stress good morals and that the law should support him, legally and morally.

"My kids were in regular Little League for two years," said Kaplan, who lived in the Philadelphia area for the first 27 years of his life.