San Antonio artist Adrian Galvan created this Fred’s Fish Fry-Spurs jersey design that went viral. Credit: Adrian Galvan

A federal judge this week ruled that the defendants who allegedly created a viral Fred’s Fish Fry-themed San Antonio Spurs jersey infringed on the local fast-food chain’s trademark.

Even so, one defendant in the suit told the Current the circumstances surrounding the ruling are fishy at best and he’s hoping to have the judgment rejected.

San Antonio U.S. District Judge Xavier Rodriguez on Tuesday permanently banned the purported designers of the jersey — Adrian Galvan, Victor Galvan and Michael Baez — from using the Fred Fish Fry trademark or “any confusingly similar variation” in future designs.

The trio were also ordered to pay Fred’s Fish Fry $8,230 in legal fees. However, the judge didn’t order the defendants to pay actual damages or turn over any alleged profits made from the design.

Graphic designer Adrian Galvan created a rendering of the the jersey in late 2023 as a joke and posted it on his Facebook page. After the image went viral, Baez posted a similar version of the jersey on his website, Bexar County Social Apparel, and began selling it for $29.99.

A cease-and-desist letter from the fried seafood chain followed.

Baez, who was unavailable for immediate comment on the ruling, previously told the Current he’d sold at least 10 of the jerseys.

Meanwhile, Victor Galvan — also unavailable at press time — maintained in earlier interviews with the Current that he was involved in neither the design nor the sale of the jersey. Victor Galvan is the owner of the Rancho 181 Food Truck park, and is the former boss of Adrian Galvan, to whom he’s unrelated.

“Victor had nothing to do with it,” Adrian Galvan said. “I guess they tried to sue him because he knows me.”

Adrian Galvan also said he was never served in the Fred’s Fish Fry lawsuit, adding that the initial petition used an address that wasn’t his. He said he’s talking with an attorney about getting the judgment tossed on that technicality.

“I’m not trying to do a countersuit, I just want it set aside,” he said.

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This article appears in Mar 5-18, 2025.

Michael Karlis is a multimedia journalist at the San Antonio Current, whose coverage in print and on social media focuses on local and state politics. He is a graduate of American University in Washington,...