Swan Ball name is fair game for now for new 2025 event, federal judge rules

The Swan Ball name is, for now, still in play for the 2025 event planned for a new location by the recently formed SB Initiative, a federal judge ruled Thursday.

U.S. District Judge Eli Richardson denied a request for a restraining order sought by long time Swan Ball beneficiary Cheekwood Botanical Garden and Museum of Art.

But Richardson will schedule a hearing for a preliminary injunction soon, where he will revisit the issue and hear oral arguments from both sides, his ruling states.

The SB Initiative, an incorporation of former members of the Swan Ball Committee that plans and organizes the white tie gala, announced recently the 2025 Swan Ball will, for the first time, be held off Cheekwood grounds and for the benefit of a different organization. The party will be at Edwin Warner Park. Proceeds will go to Friends of Warner Parks.

In recent years, Cheekwood attempted to get the Swan Ball Committee to rein in its spending, the botanical garden says, noting that the Swan Ball donated a lesser percentage of its total revenue than similarly sized charity fundraising events.

Earlier this year, members of Cheekwood's staff locked the Swan Ball Committee out of computer programs and bank accounts and generally attempted to take control of the planning of the event earlier this year, according to SB Initiative's court filings. Faced with mounting tension, the Swan Ball Committee formally incorporated in May and became the SB Initiative.

SB Initiative sued Cheekwood in July, just more than a month after the 2024 Swan Ball, in an attempt to regain administrative access to various online accounts and bank accounts and be declared the sole owner of the "Swan Ball" trademark.

Cheekwood, which sees the Swan Ball as inextricable from Cheekwood and its Swan Lawn, says that the Swan Ball Committee members who planned the event in the past were Cheekwood volunteers. The botanical garden wrote in a court filing that its employees "oversee and are intimately involved with the planning and execution of the Swan Ball."

The two parties are at odds over who owns the intellectual property to the Swan Ball. Cheekwood registered the Swan Ball trademark in 2004.

“Cheekwood is pleased that the Court is scheduling a hearing on its motion for preliminary injunction, and looks forward to presenting its case," Cheekwood lawyer Maia Woodhouse said in a statement.

SB Initiative did not immediately provide a comment on Richardson's ruling.

Evan Mealins is the justice reporter for The Tennessean. Contact him at emealins@gannett.com or follow him on X, formerly known as Twitter, @EvanMe a lins .

This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: Swan Ball name is fair game for now for new 2025 event, federal judge rules