Wolverhampton Wanderers sued over club badge design
A pensioner who sued Wolverhampton Wanderers after saying he designed a wolf head logo used on players' shirts is waiting to hear whether he has won the latest round of a legal fight.
Bosses at the newly-promoted Premier League club say 70-year-old Peter Davies' copyright infringement claim is not reasonable and should be thrown out.
But Mr Davies, who has told a judge how he created the design when a teenage schoolboy, says his case should be analysed at a trial.
A judge, Chief Master Matthew Marsh, considered rival arguments at a High Court hearing in London on Wednesday and is expected to announce his decision on whether the litigation should be halted in the near future.
Mr Davies, who comes from Wolverhampton but now lives in Stourport, Worcestershire, says he drew the wolf head logo at school in the early 1960s and entered it in a competition run by a Wolverhampton art gallery.
He says he composed sketches after a teacher asked him to demonstrate an understanding of Blaise Pascal's Hexagrammum Mysticum Theorem.
Mr Davies, a former building industry manager, says he recognised the drawing in 1979 when he noticed that Wolves' new kit bore a wolf head logo.
The judge has heard that he applied to register his wolf head design in 2016.
Barrister Edward Bragiel, who leads Mr Davies' legal team, said Mr Davies should be allowed to "assert his claim" and should not be "shut out".
Lawyers representing Wolves say Mr Davies has "no reasonable cause of action".
They say he raised the "infringement" issue with the club in 2016 and launched his claim earlier this year.
Barrister Roger Wyand QC, who leads the club's legal team, told the judge that the claim had "no real prospect of success".
Mr Wyand said Mr Davies, who will turn 71 on August 23, had known of his "purported rights" since 1979.
He said Mr Davies had run by the risk of being "shut out" by waiting so long to bring his claim.
"Who knows if I'll win," said Mr Davies after the hearing.
"The truth is the truth."
