Regents sue clothing marketer Scumdevils
State board’s lawsuit accuses online business of trademark infringement
The Arizona Board of Regents is suing a company called Scumdevils that markets clothing in support of the University of Arizona while at the same time bashing Arizona State University.
The online website owned by two University of Arizona alumni sells Tshirts with the words “Scumdevils” emblazoned on the front and other shirts with a version of the popular Wildcat logo.
“Show off your pride and support for the UA Wildcats while simultaneously displaying hate towards ASU,” the scumdevils.com website says.
The suit, filed April 28 in federal court, accuses the owners of trademark infringement for using registered trademarks owned by the UA, including the well-known wildcat head image and the Bear Down trademark. The company is not authorized or licensed by the UA to use its trademarks.
The suit says the company uses symbols and logos that are “confusingly similar” to the UA’s registered trademarks. The similarity is likely to cause confusion and likely to wrongly suggest that the merchandise is licensed or approved by the university, the lawsuit says.
The suit against Scumdevils LLC accuses the company of profiting by using the university’s trademarks without permission.
Attorneys for UA said they informed Scumdevils owners, Manuel A. Rocha and Francisco J. Jacinto of Sahuarita, Arizona, of the trademark infringement on May 10, 2016. Since then, the parties have attempted to negotiate a settlement but have been unsuccessful, the suit says.
The suit also accuses Scumdevils LLC of trademarking the “WC” hand gesture, a symbol the lawsuit said was conceived by UA swimmer Simon Burnett in 2003 and used by UA students to refer to the university. The lawsuit seeks to cancel the defendant’s trademark. Scumdevils offers shirts on its website with the WC logo.
Rocha, a 2007 graduate of UA, said he is disappointed the regents chose to sue.
“It’s disheartening,” he said. “We’re a small business. We’re a local business. We’re entrepreneurs.”
Rocha said issues with the university started after Scumdevils received the trademark to the “WC” hand gesture as a logo to use on printed apparel in December 2015. He said the university offered to purchase the logo, but at a very low price. He didn’t accept the offer.
Rocha said he took the scumdevils.com website offline for about six months while he was negotiating with UA. When negotiations fell apart, he put the website back online in March. The regents filed a lawsuit the following month.
Regents spokeswoman Sarah Harper declined comment on the suit.
Rocha said the initial idea behind scumdevils.com was to create a blog or rivalry site that poked fun at the ASU-UA rivalry. Then he decided to sell fan-based apparel through the site.
The intent is entertainment and “nothing malicious or anything like that,” he said.
He added that sales through the site are “OK,” but he also has a separate day job.
An “About Us” description on the website for Scumdevils.com gives three examples of the company’s purpose: “Display Arizona pride, support the Wildcats and HATE THE SUNDEVILS,” it says.
“Whether you were born a Wildcat, converted over, or baptized into being one, hating ASU is part of you, it is within you,” a quote on the website states.
It’s not unusual for the universities to sue or threaten legal action over trademark infringement, which often takes the form of someone using a mascot or university image without permission.