It’s a trademark battle mired in extra innings.
A dispute between a Long Island man and the New York Yankees over the phrase “The House that Juice Built” is now stretching into its fourth year — with no end in sight.
“This is about wanting to control people. They don’t want to be held responsible for not overseeing their own players,” charged Steve Lore (right), who applied to trademark the anti-steroid message back in 2009.
“Steroids really ruined the game, and when news of [the rampant use] broke, it was mostly Yankees that were suspected — Giambi, A-Rod, Clemens,” explained the Brooklyn-born Lore, 60, a lifelong Dodger fan.
The logo twists the team’s trademarked phrase for Yankee Stadium, “The House that Ruth Built,” and alters the team logo of a top hat and bat, replacing the latter with a syringe.
The Yankees balked at the trademark application, which they slammed as “offensive” and likely understood to be a reference to the “consumption of alcohol or illegal anabolic steroids.”
Ever since, Lore said every year has been like déjà vu all over again, as the case has lingered before the US Patent and Trademark Office, which recently suspended the matter to allow the Yankees and Lore to negotiate.
“They are dragging this on because they don’t have a case,” said Lore.
The Yankees did not return calls for comment.