Image copyright
Getty Images
A 71-year-old man who claimed he designed the Wolverhampton Wanderers club badge has lost his High Court bid for compensation.
Peter Davies said he drew the wolf head motif as a schoolboy in the 1960s and entered it in an art competition.
Mr Justice Nugee said Mr Davies faced "insuperable obstacles" in proving his copyright claim.
Mr Davies, a retired building industry manager, now faces legal fees and costs estimated to be about £450,000.
Mr Davies said he came up with the angular design after a teacher asked him to demonstrate an understanding of Blaise Pascal's Hexagrammum Mysticum Theorem, and entered it in an art competition advertised in the Express and Star newspaper.
Mr Davies, who is from Wolverhampton but now lives in Stourport-on-Severn, Worcestershire, said he recognised his drawing in 1979 when he noticed Wolves' kit bore a new wolf head logo, the four-day hearing was told.
He claimed the designer of the 1979 motif had links to judges in the art competition.
Club bosses said the wolf head was the original work of graphic designer Ian Jackson and it was "revamped" by Jonathan Russell in 2002.
Mr Jackson, who is now in his 80s, told Mr Justice Nugee he would never copy anyone else's work and said it was "impossible" that he could have seen Mr Davies' schoolboy drawing.
Mr Davies had made a copyright claim and wanted compensation.
Bosses at the Premier League club denied Mr Davies' claim and the judge concluded that Mr Jackson had not copied Mr Davies' drawing.
Follow BBC West Midlands on Facebook, on Twitter, and sign up for local news updates direct to your phone.