Yankees win right to be the only "Evil Empire"

NEW YORK There's only one "Evil Empire" in baseball. And the New York Yankees have won a legal victory to make sure it stays that way.

A panel of judges in Washington D.C. issued a ruling this month against a company called Evil Enterprises that has been trying since 2008 to trademark the phrase "Baseballs Evil Empire."

The Yankees opposed the application, and in their decision, the judges agreed that the team alone owned the term, at least in connection with baseball.

Evil Enterprises lawyer Gerard Dunne tells The Wall Street Journal that he hasn't decided yet whether to appeal.

The term actually originates with Boston Red Sox President Larry Lucchino, who called the Yankees the "evil empire" after they signed Cuban pitcher Jose Contreras in 2002.