Jim Pons -- the man who created one of the New York Jets' logos -- is now suing the team and the NFL ... demanding he be paid for their use of his design.
Pons filed the lawsuit, obtained by TMZ Sports, in New York on Monday ... claiming he made the now-iconic emblem way back in the 1970s, after he had been working for the team as a film and video director.
Pons says in '78, the Jets were looking for a redesign -- and when he submitted his logo that featured a jet plane above the letters "E-T-S" .