Getty Image
The Toronto Sceptres of the PWHL may have accidentally invited some undue legal troubles when they recently reached out to pop superstar Taylor Swift about their new name and logo.
The Sceptres were one of the original six teams when the Professional Women’s Hockey League debuted earlier this year. However, the organization spent its first year in existence known only as “PWHL Toronto.” In September, the league revealed new team names and logos for each of its six teams. Toronto was named the Sceptres and debuted a new “TS” monogram logo.
Therein lies the problem. As Margaret Fleming of Front Office Sports reports, the “TS” monogram logo used by the Sceptres looks conspicuously like the same monogram used by Swift in the 2014 music video for her hit single “Shake It Off.”
Schulich Marketing Instructor Vijay Setlur comments on the Toronto Sceptres’ new logo! 🏒 Fans spot resemblance to a Taylor Swift symbol in her “Shake It Off” video. 🎶 Check out his insights in the @TorontoStar.
🔗 Article: https://t.co/5o4iqvYaT9#TorontoSceptres #TaylorSwift pic.twitter.com/k1EmMnXsVA
— Schulich School of Business (@SchulichSchool) September 12, 2024
Toronto Sceptres And PWHL Opened Themselves Up To Potential Taylor Swift Lawsuit
The Sceptres may not have had an issue had they just laid low. After all, the PWHL isn’t exactly the world’s most popular sports league. But when Swift came to Toronto earlier this month for a stop on her “Eras Tour” the team offered to present her with a custom jersey.
We’re so excited to have you in Toronto, @taylorswift13 and @gracieabrams!
We can’t wait to see you rep the first custom Toronto Sceptres jerseys 😉
(cc: @taylornation13, @gracieshq) pic.twitter.com/8wwth7N03f
— Toronto Sceptres (@PWHL_Toronto) November 12, 2024
Now they may live to regret that decision.
“What the tourism board and what the team have now done is highlighted that [similarity] for everybody to see. So in some ways, if [Swift] would have been fine with it before, she might now feel compelled to address it,” an expert on trademark law and professor of law and media at Northeastern University told Fleming. “It’s kind of bold what they did.”
The PWHL denied that it actively used Swift’s design for its logo.
“While we welcome the comparison to Taylor, our logo started with the Sceptre symbol at its core, with the top and bottom points of an ornamented rod. From that starting point, the Toronto Sceptres logo was born,” it told Fleming.
But the similarities are impossible to ignore. And now the league, and the team, may regret ever bringing it up.