Kossyvibes Sports: Beckham in Legal Battle with Inter Milan Over MLS Club Name

David Beckham is locked in a legal battle with Inter Milan over the naming of his MLS franchise.

The Italian club - whose full official name is FC Internazionale Milano - filed a US Patent and Trademark application in 2014 in a bid to make the word 'Inter' its exclusive brand.

That would prevent Beckham's Miami club using the title.

Now, however, Major League Soccer has filed opposition to Inter Milan’s claim .

It says the word 'Inter' is simply an abbreviation of ' internacional ' and “merely descriptive of the applicant and its goods and services”.

And it points out 'Inter' is “commonly used to describe soccer teams" listing several clubs who already use the name, including SC Internacional of Porto Alegre, Brazil, Inter Nashville FC, Inter Atlanta FC, FC Inter Turku (Finland), NK Inter Zapresic (Croatia), Inter Leipzig (Germany) and Inter de Grand-Goave (Haiti).

The MLS notice adds: “Because of the widespread use of the term Inter in soccer, the relevant consumers do not associate the term Inter with one soccer team; Inter by itself is not a source indicator in connection with goods and services associated with soccer.