Judges: Yankees 'Only' Evil Empire in Baseball

A panel of trademark judges in Washington, D.C. declared this month that the New York Yankees are the only Evil Empire in baseball when rejecting an application from an entrepreneur to trademark the phrase “Baseballs Evil Empire.” 

The Wall Street Journal reported the “Yankees claimed they had the rights to the phrase when it comes to baseball” and “even showed a number of articles from the past decade using the term in connection with the Yankees, and said that the team has ‘implicitly embraced’ the ‘Evil Empire’ moniker.”

“In short, the record shows that there is only one Evil Empire in baseball and it is the New York Yankees,” wrote the judges in their opinion. “Accordingly, we find that [the Yankees] have a protectable trademark right in the term . . . as used in connection with baseball.”

The company, Evil Enterprises, applied in 2008 for the exclusive rights to market merchandise using the “Baseballs Evil Empire” phrase.