Supreme Court turns away Clemente sons' fight over Puerto Rico plates

The US Supreme Court turned away a bid Monday from Roberto Clemente's three sons to revive their fight over Puerto Rico putting the baseball legend's face on commemorative license plates and registration tags. The justices declined to hear the appeal after lower courts already sided against the family.

Roberto Clemente Jr, Luis Roberto Clemente and Roberto Enrique Clemente sued alongside two family-owned companies set up to protect the Roberto Clemente trademark and carry on his charity work. They argued Puerto Rico never asked permission before rolling out the plates in 2022, and that the unauthorized likeness pulled in $15 million for the territory. The program was shut down at the end of that year.

The lawsuit asked a federal court in Puerto Rico to block any future use of their father's image on plates and tags, and sought $45 million in damages plus $3.15 million for trademark infringement. At the center of the case was the Fifth Amendment's ban on government takings of private property — the family said Puerto Rico effectively seized Clemente's trademark rights.

San Juan-based US District Judge Gina Mendez-Miro threw the suit out, and the Boston-based 1st US Circuit Court of Appeals partially upheld that ruling, rejecting the argument that the territory's trademark use amounted to an unconstitutional taking. In their Supreme Court petition, the family's attorneys warned that leaving the 1st Circuit's ruling standing would invite government to take trademarks on demand, checked only by a balancing test that lets it destroy value and pay nothing back.

Puerto Rico pushed back in its own filings, saying the family overstated the appellate ruling. The 1st Circuit never declared intangible property categorically excluded from automatic Fifth Amendment protection, the territory argued, adding that the court simply applied existing precedent to the facts.

Wen Fa, an attorney for the sons, said the family was disappointed the court wouldn't take up the issues in their petition — but not done fighting. He said they look forward to litigating the remaining claims in the trial court. Clemente, a Puerto Rico native, spent 18 seasons as a Pittsburgh Pirates right fielder from 1955 to 1972, made 15 All-Star teams, won two World Series and was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame. He died at 38 in a 1972 plane crash while flying earthquake relief to Nicaragua.