Joe Norton continues to threaten OLA, MSL and Brampton over use of Excelsiors name & brand
Mike Burke, Brampton Excelsiors, 2017 (Photo: Dave Fryer)
The Lax Mag has learned that Joe Norton has recently sent a handful of emails to the Major Series Lacrosse Board of Governors threatening legal action if the MSL and possibly others within the Ontario Lacrosse Association umbrella continue to use the Brampton Excelsiors name and branding.
Norton, who’s 2018 purchase of the Brampton Major Excelsiors was later questioned and never officially recognized by the OLA Board of Directors, along with his attempt to move the team to Owen Sound a few seasons later, previously threatened to sue anyone using Excelsiors assets he insisted he legally owned (name, logos, etc.) in May of 2022.
Those legal threats delayed and almost completely cancelled the entire 2022 MSL season with the league and teams fearing litigation.
A scratched season was avoided after Norton and a group representing Brampton, the newly recognized Brampton Excelsiors Lacrosse Club, agreed to sit out the season and continue discussing a resolution regarding the status of teams residing in both Brampton and Owen Sound.
Late last year, MSL announced that the two sides had come to a resolution regarding the Excelsiors player pool, and further confirmed both a Brampton and Owen Sound team would be playing in their 2023 season. The league would later refer to the Brampton-based team as the Brampton Excelsiors, and have used the team name many times leading up to and during their recent 2023 Entry Draft. The “BE” logo remains on the league’s website as well.
The emails to the MSL BOG began this past weekend, Norton requesting the league and teams stop using his trademarks and, like last year, threatening litigation if they did not comply.
Below is the copy of the “Offer to Purchase” signed by Norton and then BELC President Ziggy Musial on April 9, 2018. Within the agreement’s first section, it states, “The Assets, notwithstanding any other provision of this Agreement shall only include intellectual property rights associated with the operating name “Brampton Major Excelsiors” and for clarity shall not include any logos, marks, or other branding used by the Vendor (Note: BELC is the Vendor) in connection with its other lacrosse teams or leagues.” The Brampton club has been using the Excelsiors name since 1871 for various levels of lacrosse, including Junior A & B teams and Senior men’s & women’s field lacrosse teams.
It is also worth noting, that based on their ruling last year, the OLA does not recognize this agreement due to concerns over the legality of the sale between Norton and Musial. Prior to the 2022 season, the OLA mandated that an arbitrator rule on the unresolved issue of ownership between the two parties, a solution The Lax Mag has learned was agreed to by the BELC and turned down by Norton, which led to the two sides resolving the matter privately, deciding to divide the player pool late last year.
In May of last year, since resigned MSL Commissioner Doug Luey sent the OLA Norton’s initial legal threat over use of the Brampton Excelsiors name and other assets Norton felt he still owned, no matter what the association had previously ruled.
In addition to claiming ownership of the name “Brampton Excelsiors Lacrosse Club”, the letter from Norton’s lawyers also lists the club’s logo and trademarks, the website BramptonExcelsiors.ca, all social media accounts, as well as the team’s players as being owned by Norton.
The issue of player rights has been resolved, the rest, according to Norton’s recent emails at least, has not.
“No decision of the OLA could oblige them to surrender assets that they lawfully acquired in a corporate transaction, and paid for,” Norton’s lawyers, Adair Goldblatt Bieber LLP, indicated in last year’s letter. “The OLA can only have jurisdiction over the operations of its leagues. The OLA has no authority to take assets by corporations and distribute them to third parties.”
The letter also indicated that Norton would be willing to sell those Brampton Excelsiors-related assets back to the Brampton group.
During Norton’s management of the club in Brampton over two seasons, the team was rebranded significantly, swapping their iconic gold & maroon colours for uniforms that acted largely as an advertisement for another one of his business ventures, Bug Juice, a Michigan-based children’s drink brand.