The City of Dallas and a local apparel company have engaged in a Texas-sized battle over who has the rights to a stylized “D” logo. The city filed suit against Triple D Gear, a streetwear brand founded in 2007 by Turo Sanchez, claiming that the company’s logo is too similar to the one Dallas has used for nearly 50 years.
But Sanchez isn’t backing down. Triple D Gear secured federal trademarks for its logo before the city of Dallas did, and the T-shirt and hat maker recently survived an attempt by the the city to cancel the brand’s trademarks in August. The federal appeal board presiding over the case ruled that the city couldn’t prove it had established the use of the logo for apparel.
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That ruling led the city to file a lawsuit on Oct. 25 against Triple D Gear, asking the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas, Dallas Division, to review that decision by the Board of the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, as well as cancel the apparel maker’s trademarks.
In August 2020, Dallas applied to trademark its logo, but that application wasn’t approved in part because the emblem could be confused for Triple D Gear’s logo.
The logos in question both are made up of three concentric D’s. The city’s logo has squared edges at the ends of the lines forming the D’s, while Triple D Gear’s has rounded edges. Dallas’ logo has a tree in the center of the D, while Triple D Gear’s has a star. Triple D Gear also has trademarked a logo with three concentric D’s with squared edges and nothing in the center.
“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,” Sanchez said during a 2018 interview with WFAA’s “Good Morning Texas” show.
Southern Methodist University also has gotten involved in the logo dispute with Dallas and Triple D Gear. Two days after the city filed suit against Triple D Gear, the apparel company filed its own complaint against Dallas area-based SMU for its use of the “D” logo on apparel and hats. SMU has had a licensing agreement with the City of Dallas since 2020 to use its “D” logo for team apparel and even football helmets.
The Dallas Morning News reported that Triple D Gear cited an August 2020 direct message on its Instagram account from a potential customer who was confused by SMU’s logo.
“All my friends have the new SMU & triple D shirts,” the message said. “Can I order one from y’all?”
