By: jackie.sauter

I expected the court’s decision in an amateur artist’s federal lawsuit over the Baltimore Ravens’ original logo to contain legal underpinnings. And U.S. District Court Judge Marvin J. Garbis provided that, analyzing each element of the fair use doctrine to determine Frederick E. Bouchat’s claim of copyright infringement was unfounded

What I did not expect was an illustrated history of professional football in Baltimore. The opinion includes logos of the franchises that ultimately became the Colts, the interregnum franchises before the Ravens and finally the return of the NFL to Charm City — and in the process subtly demonstrating the fair use doctrine.

In an interview, Garbis, a lifelong Baltimorean and football fan, said he personally researched the Baltimore football family tree.

“When you start, you get caught up in it,” he said. “I could have gone on forever.”

To recap: The first incarnation of the Baltimore Colts (1947-1950) played in the All-America Football Conference. The team was the Miami Seahawks in the AAFC’s inaugural season, 1946, and arrived in Baltimore one year later with its green and gray uniforms. The AAFC folded in 1949, and the Colts played one year in the NFL before folding.

The second, more familiar Colts, arrived for the 1953 season. Though disputed by NFL historians (as footnoted in the opinion), Garbis traces the team to the founding of the National Football League, beginning with the Dayton Triangles (1920) who begat the Brooklyn Tigers (1930), who begat the Boston Yanks (1945), who begat the New York Bulldogs (1949), who begat the New York Yanks (1950) who begat the Dallas Texans (1952).

We all know what happened in 1984. The following year, Baltimore inherited a United States Football League franchise from Philadelphia. The Baltimore Stars folded with the league in 1986.

A proposed NFL expansion team called the Baltimore Bombers “never got off the ground,” Garbis wryly noted in his opinion. The city was awarded a Canadian Football League franchise in 1993. Originally named the Colts, the team went nameless for its inaugural 1994 season after being threatened with a lawsuit from the NFL. It became the Stallions for the 1995 season and went on to win the 83rd Grey Cup, the CFL’s version of the Super Bowl (Bonus points to anyone who can name the game’s MVP.)

The Stallions galloped to Montreal following the season, however, because the Cleveland Browns announced plans in November 1995 to relocate to Baltimore, and the Ravens were born.

Garbis, incidentally, became a Ravens season-ticket holder. Asked to forecast the rest of the season, the judge predicted the Ravens going 3-2 in their final five games to finish 10-6 — good enough for a playoff berth.

DANNY JACOBS, Legal Affairs Writer