Wear it Proud: Yankee Hater

Not surprisingly, the baseball establishment in New York didn't take kindly to Moorby's Yankee Hater merchandise. He says staying in business has meant tearing up a cease-and-desist letter from Major League Baseball; and he claims he has spent all his profits, appropriately, fighting the Yankees themselves, who opposed his trademark application that used the stylized Yankees "Y" in it. If things stay on schedule, final proceedings concerning the merit of Moorby's trademark will go before the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board before the end of the year.

"I'm not going to go out with a whimper," says a defiant Moorby. "Plus, how many times in life do you actually get to play against a team that you hate so much? Who would imagine that [he] would ever go face-to-face with the beast? Well, I am doing that right now."

Officials with Major League Baseball and the New York Yankees declined to comment on the case. But in their filings, attorneys for the team wrote that Moorby's sale of items involving the word "Yankees" and the team's trademarks should not be allowed because the team didn't grant the entrepreneur permission to use them.

Two legal experts contacted by ESPN.com, however, say that it's possible Moorby can defeat the almighty Yankees. Winning a trademark case, they say, requires proving either that a certain brand has been compromised or that there is confusion about who is selling the product.