David Beckham’s MLS team Inter Miami could be forced to change their name ahead of their debut next month after Internazionale won a key battle in a trademark infringement lawsuit.
Inter Milan claim ‘Inter’ is synonymous with the Italian club – who are the local rivals of one of Beckham’s former clubs AC Milan.
Inter Miami are set to make their debut against LAFC on 1 March, but now already face the embarrassing prospect of a name change.
The US Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) dismissed one of the two arguments made by the MLS franchise, according to a report by Law.com.
Speaking to the legal website, Miami attorney David Winker highlighted Inter Milan’s initial victory after overcoming the significant legal threshold of “likely confusion”, before predicting that the ruling “will result in Miami having to change its name”.
“The USPTO found that MLS’ claim that there are a number of clubs around the world that use Inter in their name – SC Internacional of Porto Alegre, Brazil, Inter Nashville FC, Inter Atlanta FC, FC Inter Turku (Finland), NK Inter Zapresic (Croatia), Inter Leipzig (Germany) and Inter de Grand-Goave (Haiti) – did not meet its burden to show that MLS has valid proprietary, or ownership, right in the name, Inter,” the report said.
Inter Milan first made a trademark application to the USPTO in 2014, according to the Miami New Times, with the intent of making ‘Inter’ an exclusive brand in the United States.
Inter Miami followed their application in 2018, though it has since been suspended. They insist the term ‘Inter’ is widely used shorthand in football and to trademark it would cause a “likelihood of confusion” among several other teams around the world that already use it.
Beckham’s pursuit of launching a MLS side has been littered with issues and setbacks, including the protracted construction of the team’s 25,000-seat Miami Freedom Park.
Following their season debut against LAFC and another away trip against DC United, Inter Miami will play their first home match on 14 March against LA Galaxy.
