For the past 15 years, “Louligan” has been synonymous in St. Louis with soccer—specifically, the group of St. Louis CITY SC supporters known for their passionate fandom and the nonprofit they formed to raise money for good causes.
Now a for-profit company hopes to make that name synonymous with beverages.
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Mitch Morice, a board member of the St. Louligans, says the nonprofit group only learned that a local beverage company had filed legal paperwork seeking to register the name “Louligan” because they’d decided to trademark their logo, triggering a potential “David and Goliath” legal battle that required a tough cost-benefit analysis.
He says that the Louligans had grown frustrated by seeing people try to use the good will they’d engendered to sell merchandise like hats and T-shirts, and so a paralegal in the group had begun sending cease and desist letters when they spotted knockoff products on Facebook Marketplace or other sites. “And then a couple weeks later we’d get another one from another shitty fly-by-night operation,” Morice says. A trademarked logo seemed like a good way to protect their brand.
Then they learned that Maryland Heights-based Beck Flavors had applied in April to trademark their name. (Morice didn’t name the company, but it’s easy to find online.)
That’s different from trademarking a logo (the Louligans’ logo trademark has been approved), but Louligan board members were shocked someone would appropriate their name to try to sell beverages. Morice says they exchanged letters with the lawyer for Beck Flavors, but it quickly became clear the company wasn’t backing down.
After SLM reached out yesterday seeking comment, Beck Flavors released a statement yesterday saying that it pursues trademarks on behalf of clients, who it assists with “full-service beverage creation services.”
Its statement continues, “Recently, at the request of a client, Beck Flavors pursued the beverage specific trademark for ‘Louligan’ and ‘Louligans.’ The trademark filing for our client is not for ‘St. Louligans’ and does not contain the skull and cross bones logo. Due to a non-disclosure agreement at this time, Beck Flavors is unable to disclose the name of the client or reveal its plans for future product releases. Beck Flavors appreciates the St. Louligans fan club’s recent clarification that the focus of the St. Louligans’ concerns is not with Beck Flavors.”
Ultimately, the Louligans concluded that they had no choice but to stand down.
“We started looking at it and the legal costs to battle this would probably end up in the range of a used to new Honda Accord,” Morice says. “And if this third party has enough money to use this company as a registrar and flavor developer, they probably have enough money to drag this out and bleed us dry.”
The Louligans feel confident they will continue to have the right to use their name. They just won’t be able to stop the as-yet-unidentified beverage creator from using it as well.
Even so, St. Louis being the kind of town it is, Morice believes the Louligan name may not help the beverage creators in the way they appear to be counting upon. The Louligans are trying to get the word out that they do not support this commercial use and they hope people will not buy products that they haven’t authorized.
“There’s going to be significant blowback,” he predicts. “And that’s not even counting our friends and partners and members’ workplaces that are going to say, ‘Oh, we’re not going to use this company if they come calling.”
Although the group is best known for its support of soccer in St. Louis, the Louligans have earned a reputation for giving back. At each CITY home game, the Louligans operate their Charity du Jour program, which raises money for a different cause each week. Last spring, the city of St. Louis recognized the group’s charitable efforts with an honorary street renaming. Now, N. 21st street between Olive and Locust streets is known as “Louligan Street.”
Morice notes that every January, the Louligans have a game at a soccer park in Fenton where they raise money for charity. “Basically, we end up restocking the St. Louis Area Foodbank because their shells are bare after the holidays,” he says. “I forget what the numbers are, but it’s thousands upon thousands of meals that we raise that first Saturday every year. Every year. And that’s more important to me than a name.”
