Dallas has been using its logo for around 50 years, while a local apparel company, Triple D Gear, has been using a similar logo for 16 years. Now the city wants a federal judge to put a stop to the company’s use of the branding, but the company’s owner isn’t backing down.
That’s because the apparel company got federal trademarks for its versions of the logo before the city did and recently prevailed in an attempt by Dallas to cancel the clothing brand’s trademark – leading to the city’s Oct. 25 lawsuit. A federal appeal board ruled in August that the city couldn’t prove it had established use of the logo for shirts and other clothing.
When the city did apply to trademark its logo for that specific use in August 2020, it wasn’t approved. Part of the reason, court documents say, was because it could have been confused for Triple D Gear’s logo.
The city’s logo consists of three concentric Ds with a tree inside, while Triple D Gear has trademarked one logo with only the concentric Ds and another where a star is inside the Ds.
“Basically, we took the city of Dallas logo and we just put a star in it and tilted it, gave it a 90-degree angle and gave it the whole look.” That’s what Triple D Gear CEO Turo Sanchez said during a 2018 WFAA Good Morning Texas the segment, as people modeled Triple D Gear’s clothing line in front of cameras.
His statement is also among the evidence the city has used to back up its claims that the apparel company copied its logo.
“That way you won’t get sued by the city too, huh?” replied then-show host Alanna Sarabia. They both laughed.
Sanchez, 41, declined to speak at length to The Dallas Morning News about the logo disputes, saying he wanted to first get approval from his legal team before agreeing to a full interview. But he described the legal fight as a “David vs Goliath, culture vulture situation.”
He said he would prefer the city work with his business, which started in 2007, rather than against it.
“It’s crazy that they’re using my own taxpayer money to fight me,” Sanchez told The News.
Kim Boyle, an attorney representing Triple D Gear, declined comment, citing pending litigation.
Most recently, Southern Methodist University has been pulled into the logo fight. Two days after the city sued Triple D Gear, the apparel brand sued the school for use of the D logo without the company’s permission to sell hats, T-shirts and other apparel. SMU has had a licensing agreement with the city since at least 2020 to use the D logo for team sports gear and other uses.
“I’m sure that the city of Dallas wishes that they had applied for federal protection a long time ago,” said Katie Weber, an adjunct professor with the University of North Texas – Dallas’ College of Law. “At the end of the day, it’s going to come down to established prior use rights and whether it’s likely that the general buying public is confused about the origin of the goods.”
Anne Turner, a Hitchcock Evert attorney representing the city, declined comment due to the active litigation. The city also declined to comment and directed The News to its online municipal archives regarding the city’s logo.
Dianne Anderson, an SMU spokeswoman, confirmed to The News that the school has a logo use agreement with the city giving the university “a non-exclusive right and license to use the city’s logo.”
“SMU is aware of the litigation but has not been served with the complaint,” Anderson said regarding Triple D Gear’s Oct. 27 lawsuit filed against the school.
City documents from 2019, 2020 and 2022 show Dallas has not charged SMU for the use of its logo, although the terms of the city’s most recent deal with the school are unclear. The agreement is meant “to celebrate SMU’s impact on the City of Dallas through the limited manufacturing, distribution, advertisement, promotion, and sale of certain licensed products,” according to language in all three previous versions of the document.
All three also say the agreement will provide funding for city initiatives, but they don’t specify what they are.
‘dirty dirty Dallas’
Dallas has been using its logo since 1972. The mark appears on documents, vehicles and other materials officially sanctioned by the city of Dallas. According to the city’s online municipal archives, Dallas filed for a state trademark to use the logo also in the early 1970s.
“The ‘tree’ is meant to symbolize the quality of living in Dallas, and also to project a feeling of greenery, growth and concern for the environment,” a section of the online archives about the city logo said.
But the city didn’t file to register it as a federal trademark until August 2020, according to the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. One filing was for clothing and stationary goods and hasn’t been approved.
The other, which was officially registered in December 2022, was for goods and services that include promoting business and tourism in Dallas, construction, maintenance and repair of city government properties, providing information regarding non-emergency municipal services, and emergency medical services.
Triple D Gear is a Dallas-area company that sells hats, shirts and other apparel. In court documents, Sanchez refers to the branding of just the Ds as the “Ghost Logo”. He said he designed it around late 2007 and workshopped it with his then-business partner and others. He said the Triple D brand started as a tour merchandise collection offered through his record label and eventually became popular enough to expand into a streetwear and athletic apparel brand that also started in 2007.
Triple D Gear has had its logo with the star registered as a federal trademark since 2014 for hats, shirts, pants, and other athletic apparel, U.S. Patent and Trademark Office records show. The Ghost Logo was registered in September 2020 also for clothing and another trademark with the star in the middle was registered as of April 2021 for an expanded list of merchandising, including underwear, leggings and suits, and to sell the items through an online retail store.
“The Ghost Logo was chosen because it comprised of three Ds which derive their meaning from the phrases ‘da dirty dirty’ (referring to one who lives in the South) and the related ‘dirty dirty Dallas’ (referring to pride in Dallas as a southern city, particularly as used in the Dallas hip hop scene).” Sanchez wrote in a November 2022 declaration. “We chose the Ghost Logo for its meaning and how well it resonated in the hip hop scene.”
He said Triple D products have been sold in Dallas-area retailers, online through their website, at concerts and other events, and through U.S. military exchanges. The company on its social media pages recently advertised a Black Friday buy one get one sale on all shirts with the logo and is accepting preorders for hats and jerseys in honor of the Texas Rangers winning the World Series.
Sanchez said it wasn’t until May 2021 that the city sent a cease-and-desist letter to him claiming the Ghost Logo was “virtually identical to the city’s logo.”
“I do not agree,” Sanchez wrote in the declaration. “Our Ghost Logo is just the three ‘D’s — hence the name of our company and brand ���Triple D’…The city’s logo is a capital D — a ‘Big D’ — with a leaf or tree inside of it.”
According to the appeal board’s written decision, Sanchez said during a deposition related to the case that items with the Ghost Logo range in price from $40 to $75. He estimated at the time selling 2,500 items for about $62,500.
‘Can I order one from y’all?’
The city in June 2021 filed a petition with the federal patent and trademark office trying to get Triple D Gear’s trademark canceled, in part arguing that the city’s logo use took priority because it was established earlier and because city employees’ frequently wear hats and other clothes with the city’s logo.
“[Triple D Gear’s logo] so resembles the city logo that it is likely to cause the public to assume erroneously that registrant or its goods have been authorized, sponsored, licensed or endorsed by the city of Dallas and/or that registrant represents or is affiliated with the city,” the city said in it’s petition.
Weber said the city’s usage rights for their logo only applies to the specific goods and services linked to it. Because the city doesn’t sell clothes with their logo nor have a trademark that covers at least an intent to sell clothing, it opened the door for it to be trademarked by someone else.
“Back in the 70s, when Dallas started using that logo, it allowed them to have prior use rights for specific things,” Weber said. “Flash forward to Triple D Gear filing for federal protection for their mark, they had to attach it to certain goods and services. When you get the rights to a trademark, you don’t automatically get those rights for every conceivable use of it under the sun.”
Sanchez spoke to the Dallas City Council during a March 8 meeting asking for help in urging the city to drop the logo challenge.
He noted being born in Dallas and coming back to the city later in life after moving to Atlanta to work in the music industry. He estimated spending more than $100,000 in legal fees at that point and felt the challenge was “an injustice against a small minority business company.”
“I would love for you guys to be able to look into this situation and make a stop to this situation and actually come to the table and actually work something out to embrace us together as a culture to move our city forward and give back to our community,” Sanchez said during the open microphone portion of the meeting.
When the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office’s trademark trial and appeal board denied the city’s petition in August saying Dallas didn’t provide enough evidence that clearly shows it should have priority use of the logo for clothing, it noted, for example, that the city didn’t provide any video footage of the Good Morning Texas segment, so it couldn’t consider that argument. The city instead provided a printout of a page on WFAA’s website where the video segment can be viewed, according to the appeal board.
“Considering this evidence as a whole, we find it insufficient to support a finding that [the city of Dallas] established priority of use of its pleaded City Logo in connection with t-shirts for others prior to [Triple D Gear’s] constructive use filing date,” the decision said. “Accordingly, petitioner has failed to prove a critical element of its likelihood of confusion claim, priority, and cannot prevail.”
The city sued the clothing company on Oct. 25 in federal court to get a second opinion. The city is asking the court to review the board’s decision and cancel three of Triple D Gear’s trademarks, claiming they were fraudulently gained.
In turn, Triple D Gear says SMU has been illegally using the Ds with a mustang inside it.
“SMU’s infringing acts as alleged herein have caused and are likely to cause confusion, mistake, and deception among the relevant consuming public as to the source or origin of SMU’s good and services and are likely to deceive the relevant consuming public into mistakenly believing that SMU’s goods and services originate from, are associated with, and/or are otherwise authorized by Triple D or connected in some way to Triple D,” the federal complaint said.
In the court documents, Triple D Gear cites an August 2020 private Instagram direct message they received from a potential customer mixing up apparel from the school and clothing company.
“All my friends have the new SMU & triple D shirts,” the message said. “Can I order one from y’all?”
The city has approved spending at least $50,000 as of March 2022 to pay Hitchcock Evert LLP for representation, city records show.
