A roller derby team that has called itself the Cleveland Guardians since 2013 has sued the city's Major League Baseball team in federal court alleging that the switch from Indians to Guardians infringes on its trademark.

"A Major League club cannot simply take a smaller team's name and use it for itself," the lawsuit said. "There cannot be two 'Cleveland Guardians' teams in Cleveland, and, to be blunt, Plaintiff was here first."

The Cleveland Indians announced in July that it would assume the name Guardians for the 2022 season after years of criticism that the Indians name and Chief Wahoo logo were racist.

The all gender roller derby team is based in the Cleveland suburb of Parma. It formally registered the name Cleveland Guardians in 2017 with the Ohio secretary of state and has been selling team merchandise since 2014.