Welcome back to Legal Geek. This week, we celebrate last week's great Super Bowl and the opening of another Olympic Games with a look at how trademarks are closely intertwined with these events and athletes.
Trademarks may not be the first thing that comes to mind when you think of world famous sporting events and spectacles like the Super Bowl and the Olympics. However, the use and enforcement of trademarks has become a vital part of these events and how companies around the world can participate in the celebration.
For example, both the National Football League and the International Olympic Committee hold significant trademarks covering the names and logos associated with these sporting events. Both organizations aggressively defend such intellectual property as well, as anything with a multi-colored linked ring design or marketing surrounding Super Bowl Sunday would quickly be shut down if not allowed by a license agreement from these rights holders. By keeping such a tight lock on these names and logos, these organizations are able to maintain highly profitable revenue streams from licensing the rights to companies like McDonald's and others who want to advertise and be a significant part of these big events.
One interesting thing to look out for in the next two weeks is the new faces who become viral, or nicknames and slogans that grab the world's attention and become water cooler talk. These athletes or teams can leverage that rise to fame for a longer period of time if they register for trademark protection and then defend and use those rights after the Olympics. This is similar to what happens in some NFL athlete lives, such as the "Beast Mode" moniker that will far outlive our memories of running back Marshawn Lynch, who coined the popular phrase.
For any of these athletes who are still in college, navigating the acquisition of trademark rights and the NCAA compliance rulebook can be highly difficult. However, there's no rule stopping athletes in college from locking down these trademarks and then fully leveraging them after NCAA eligibility is over.
While it's true that many of these "15 minutes of fame" elements of the Olympics will fade from public consciousness quickly, just like the Right Shark moment from a couple Super Bowl halftime shows ago, they do lead to trademark implications and interesting cases we look forward to covering here.
In another quick sports trademark story, the Cleveland Indians organization decided to stop using their Chief Wahoo logo on the field starting in 2019. While trademarks can still be maintained on allegedly disparaging marks following the In re Tam decision on The Slants band, the Cleveland baseball team has chosen to relent from public pressure while other similar teams like the Washington Redskins football team does not. However, to keep the valuable trademark rights from lapsing, Cleveland will continue to sell merchandise with Chief Wahoo, so the symbol is not going away anytime soon thanks to trademark rules and practices.
The Bottom Line is, trademarks and big sporting events fit together like a hand and a glove. While pursuing athletic conquest and glory, many athletes and others happen upon fame that can give them financial success for life, thanks to trademarks and branding protections.
For example, both the National Football League and the International Olympic Committee hold significant trademarks covering the names and logos associated with these sporting events. Both organizations aggressively defend such intellectual property as well, as anything with a multi-colored linked ring design or marketing surrounding Super Bowl Sunday would quickly be shut down if not allowed by a license agreement from these rights holders. By keeping such a tight lock on these names and logos, these organizations are able to maintain highly profitable revenue streams from licensing the rights to companies like McDonald's and others who want to advertise and be a significant part of these big events.
One interesting thing to look out for in the next two weeks is the new faces who become viral, or nicknames and slogans that grab the world's attention and become water cooler talk. These athletes or teams can leverage that rise to fame for a longer period of time if they register for trademark protection and then defend and use those rights after the Olympics. This is similar to what happens in some NFL athlete lives, such as the "Beast Mode" moniker that will far outlive our memories of running back Marshawn Lynch, who coined the popular phrase.
For any of these athletes who are still in college, navigating the acquisition of trademark rights and the NCAA compliance rulebook can be highly difficult. However, there's no rule stopping athletes in college from locking down these trademarks and then fully leveraging them after NCAA eligibility is over.
While it's true that many of these "15 minutes of fame" elements of the Olympics will fade from public consciousness quickly, just like the Right Shark moment from a couple Super Bowl halftime shows ago, they do lead to trademark implications and interesting cases we look forward to covering here.
In another quick sports trademark story, the Cleveland Indians organization decided to stop using their Chief Wahoo logo on the field starting in 2019. While trademarks can still be maintained on allegedly disparaging marks following the In re Tam decision on The Slants band, the Cleveland baseball team has chosen to relent from public pressure while other similar teams like the Washington Redskins football team does not. However, to keep the valuable trademark rights from lapsing, Cleveland will continue to sell merchandise with Chief Wahoo, so the symbol is not going away anytime soon thanks to trademark rules and practices.
The Bottom Line is, trademarks and big sporting events fit together like a hand and a glove. While pursuing athletic conquest and glory, many athletes and others happen upon fame that can give them financial success for life, thanks to trademarks and branding protections.
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