[thechat] S---- B--- XXXVII

Martin Burns martin at easyweb.co.uk
Mon Jan 20 16:51:00 CST 2003


On Monday, January 20, 2003, at 10:36  pm, Ben Dyer wrote:

> Can anyone tell me why some companies aren't allowed to use the phrase
> "Super Bowl"?  I'm sure it has to do with trademarks and being "The
> Official ______ of the NFL", but even things that seem harmless like
> Circuit City ads that only say you can win tickets to "The Big Game".

bingo. Same with the Olympics.

> Is there some kind of case law concerning this?

Plenty covering use of registered trademarks, with exceptions for fair
use (eg probably news reporting). But if you're using their trademark in
your marketing, you'd better be paying them license fees.

> Is the NFL being lawsuit-happy?

If you had a valuable trademark which was the source of the vast
majority of your revenue, you'd probably want to protect it too.

Cheers
Martin
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