The details of the agreement are confidential, but a joint statement from the businesses confirms that Denver Sports — a new project started in January that encompasses sports-talk radio powerhouse 104.3 The Fan — will revise its branding, which plenty of observers saw as closely mirroring the look DNVR has used for years.
Brandon Spano, chief executive officer of ALLCITY Network — whose affiliates include DNVR, which he co-founded, and the spinoffs PHNX and CHGO, located in Phoenix and Chicago — declined to comment on the pact. For his part, Raj Sharan, program director of The Fan and local overseer of Denver Sports, deferred to Tanya Vea, who is executive vice president of the brand's Utah-based parent firm, Bonneville International.
Bonneville, which is a branch of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, hasn't responded to Westword's requests for comment as of this writing. But Spano and Sharan had plenty to say for Westword's original post about the dispute, published on January 17, shortly after DNVR formally took its complaints to court.
On January 6, three days after the official debut of Denver Sports, DNVR's legal team — led by Jessie Pellant of StudioIP, which specializes in patent law and associated matters — sent a cease-and-desist letter to the new entity inspired largely by its logo.
The letter notes how the Denver Sports logo uses the same black-and-white color scheme as DNVR's, along with a similar depiction of a mountain backdrop. According to DNVR's legal team, this imagery "dilutes and tarnishes the DNVR brand and misappropriates the goodwill and reputation of DNVR" to benefit Denver Sports.
"They used something we created and put it into the marketplace," Spano contended at the time. "They're not even hiding it. They're trying to look exactly like us."
The letter gave Bonneville until January 9 to accede to its demands and immediately withdraw the Denver Sports logo. When that didn't happen, Pellant filed a complaint against the corporation in U.S. District Court for the District of Colorado. The January 13 action cited "trademark infringement, unfair competition, trade dress infringement, dilution by tarnishment, and tortious interference arising out of Bonneville’s trademark infringement of Plaintiff’s trademarks."
Sharan, to whom the cease-and-desist letter was addressed, has denied any wrongdoing. In a response sent on behalf of Denver Sports and Bonneville, The Fan program director stated, "Bonneville denies the allegations, which have absolutely no merit, and our legal counsel is preparing a formal response. Denver Sports remains committed to delivering the most in-depth and inclusive local sports content for all Denver sports fans."
Social media posts about the logos' common characteristics began popping up soon after the Denver Sports announcement on January 3. Here's an example from podcaster Scott DeHuff:
Other postings shared in the letter echo this reaction. They include:Did @1043TheFan merge with @DNVR_Sports???
— Scott DeHuff 🎙 (@DeHuff) January 4, 2023
Or did they just get inspiration from DNVR's logo?
Bottom pic is The Fan.
WTF pic.twitter.com/EuYPeElUKE
“When I first saw it, I legitimately thought it was franchised.”In January, Spano said these takes from social media users inspired the letter and the lawsuit. "There was this groundswell from fans in the Denver sports community who felt similar to the way we did when we saw The Fan's new branding come out — especially after what we've seen them do in the last couple of years to kind of mimic us," Spano explained.
“Almost clicked this story. Thought it was @DNVR_Sports”
“I was literally trying to find 104.3 on twitter (sic) earlier to see the new logo and thought I was seeing DNVR Sports as the only result.”
“Did you guys change it from DNVR? I liked the old logo better.”
“I have to block the fan now cuz (sic) I’ll continue to get it confused with DNVR”
“[T]hat logo looks awfully familiar. Hmmmm”
“Man, this looks A LOT like @dnvr_sports logo.”
"This feels like you're trying to copy @dnvr_sports. Even the logo is similar..."
A January 10 Westword post about Denver Sports noted that its concept, which supplements The Fan's radio offerings with online columns, video programs and more, would likely strike DNVR loyalists as familiar. But Sharan said the true precursors of Denver Sports were brands previously created by Bonneville in other markets where it owns radio stations — among them Seattle Sports, Arizona Sports in Phoenix, and KSL Sports in Salt Lake City.
"It's a big initiative across our entire company," Sharan stressed. "We're trying to create strong radio brands, but digital brands as well — and Denver Sports is more of an umbrella brand we've created for different audiences. People can go to Denversports.com and read columns and watch videos. But we still have The Fan, in addition to ESPN 1600, our nationally branded station. The way I describe it is like meta is for Facebook and Instagram."
Sharan didn't address the concept's imaging. But in a January interview, Eric Wedum, DNVR's chief creative officer, argued that Denver Sports had purposefully nicked DNVR's logo, which he designed.
"I created the visual brand, and when we set out to make this visual presentation, there was nothing else like it," Wedum said. "We departed from traditional sports and tried to create a brand that was more about culture and community — something larger than sports itself, something that was really about the City of Denver."
DNVR staged a YouTube town hall on January 17 to explain to its followers why the decision was made to file a formal complaint against Denver Sports, and Spano and his colleagues engaged in lengthy online discussions regarding the topic as Pellant's team got to work; the docket for the case enumerates 32 filings by the various sides through March 3.
Now, however, the town hall video and the various conversation threads are no longer accessible. Here's the joint statement about the settlement from DNVR and Denver Sports:
ALLCITY Network (“BSN Live, Inc.”) and Bonneville International Corporation (“Bonneville”) are pleased to announce that they have amicably resolved their dispute concerning Bonneville’s use of the name DENVER SPORTS and an accompanying logo. Bonneville will continue to offer its services under the trademark DENVER SPORTS, but Bonneville has decided to alter its logos to allow both parties to put this matter behind them and focus on building their respective brands. ALLCITY Network has agreed to dismiss the federal lawsuit it filed against Bonneville in January. ALLCITY Network and Bonneville remain committed to providing Mile High sports fans with their own unique brands of coverage and commentary. They wish each other well in their respective operations.Despite the settlement, the Denver Sports logo and branding were still up on its website on Tuesday, March 28. But that's expected to change very soon.
