BIRMINGHAM, Alabama - The University of Alabama and Paul W. Bryant Jr. are in a legal fight to keep Houndstooth Mafia merchandise off store shelves.

The University of Alabama Board of Trustees and Bryant, the son of legendary coach Paul "Bear" Bryant, have filed a federal trademark infringement and unfair competition lawsuit against Houndstooth Mafia Enterprises, LLC. The company makes merchandise with the Houndstooth Mafia logo with a houndstooth pattern background.

The lawsuit also asks a judge to overturn a U.S. Patent and Trademark Office Trademark Trial and Appeal Board's ruling in July that allowed the Houndstooth Mafia's 2007 trademark registration application to go forward for caps and t-shirts. The suit also seeks to block a trademark application filed July 29 for use of the logo on bumper stickers, magnetic bumper stickers, stickers, stickers and transfers.

That trademark board in July had ruled the houndstooth pattern did not infringe on the university's merchandise and that no one would consider the university or Coach Bryant to have been a part of organized crime. It also said the university did not have a trademark right to the houndstooth pattern.

AL.com today obtained a copy of the lawsuit, which was filed late last week in federal court in Birmingham.

"Defendants' Houndstooth Mafia (trademark) and the infringing merchandise is likely to deceive, confuse, and mislead prospective purchasers into believing that defendant's infringing merchandise is licensed, produced or authorized by or in some manner associated with plaintiffs," according to the lawsuit.

The lawsuit also names William Pitts Jr. and Christopher Blackburn as defendants and describes them as avid University of Alabama fans who began selling the Houndstooth Mafia merchandise around September 2007.

The University and Bryant, who also is a trustee, have been fighting to keep the Houndstooth Mafia merchandise from the market since 2008 when it filed its opposition to a trademark application by the company. Besides the trademark infringement claim, Bryant and the trustees also argued that the term "mafia" is offensive.

In its July ruling the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office Trademark Trial and Appeal Board dismissed the university and Bryant's opposition to the registration of a trademark for Houndstooth Mafia and did not find the term "mafia" disparaging to Coach Bryant or the university. Instead, the term is used for a group of football fans, particularly Alabama fans, who hang out together, according to the ruling.

"There simply are no facts whatsoever in this record that suggest that those familiar with Coach Bryant would choose the derogatory meaning of 'mafia' and infer that either the university or Coach Bryant is a member of, or has ties to, organized crime," according to the ruling.

The board ruled that the Houndstooth Mafia mark was not disparaging and there was no showing that it infringed on any university trademark. The board also found that the university does not hold rights to the houndstooth pattern.

The evidence does not show that the university has enjoyed substantially exclusive use of the houndstooth pattern either in the state of Alabama, or in its markings. "Houndstooth is a known fabric pattern available to the general public and as shown by applicants' (Houndstooth Mafia's) evidence, has been used by third-parties for items marketed to the University's fans," according to the board's ruling.

The board stated that neither the university nor Bryant had trademark rights to the houndstooth pattern.

"There is no evidence that the hats worn by Coach Bryant were one-of-a-kind, custom-designed, or anything other than commercially-available men's fedora hats," the board stated in its opinion. "The mere fact that Coach Bryant was recognized for wearing patterned fedoras at the University's football games does not endow either Coach Bryant (including his estate) or the University with trademark rights in the houndstooth pattern."