The Cleveland Indians baseball team recently made news when they announced that their team logo, the often-criticized obviously racist caricature known as Chief Wahoo would be phased out of the team’s uniforms and ball park by the start of the 2019 season.

The case against Major League Baseball continues, however. This is not a trademark case, but is rather an application brought before the Ontario Human Rights Tribunal, where Douglas Cardinal filed a complaint asserting that both the logo and team name are racist and demeaning to Canada’s Indigenous peoples.

The MLB recently attempted to argue that the Ontario Human Rights Tribunal is not the right venue for this case to be heard because the Federal Court of Canada has exclusive jurisdiction to make changes to trademark registrations. Cardinal argued that it is not a trademark remedy that he is seeking but rather one that only a human rights tribunal could give. The Trademarks Act does not give the Federal Court any power to make a finding of discrimination. The Cleveland Indians only play baseball in Ontario because the Toronto Blue Jays club is the sole Canadian team in the MLB.

We will continue to monitor the development of this case in Canada and will provide updates as they arise.