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The Unmentionable Super Bowl

E

EWF

Guest
Isn't it getting ridiculous that no one on the air - either on television or radio can mention the Super Bowl by name unless they are directly connected to the phony game. I see and hear local supermarkets dance around Super Bowl parties by calling them "The Big Game Party." Pure stupidity.
Every mention of the SB should be considered free advertising of the stupid gladiator feast.

Time for these thick headed jocks and their handlers to start playing with their helmets on.
 
> Isn't it getting ridiculous that no one on the air - either
> on television or radio can mention the Super Bowl by name
> unless they are directly connected to the phony game. I see
> and hear local supermarkets dance around Super Bowl parties
> by calling them "The Big Game Party." Pure stupidity.
> Every mention of the SB should be considered free
> advertising of the stupid gladiator feast.
>
> Time for these thick headed jocks and their handlers to
> start playing with their helmets on.


Very much agree. This "I, Me, Mine" mentality has gone much too far, at the hands of those who want not only their share, but want it all. The game itself no longer amounts to anything. Instead the event is all about marketing, hype, multi-million dollar commercials and all the other overkill--including attempts to restrict use of the name. Something rotten here and it's not in Denmark.
>
 
"The Big Game"? I wonder if that's why the lottery people modified the name of their multi-state lottery game to "Mega Millions" some time back? <P ID="signature">______________
#13 Dan Marino...2005 Football Hall Of Fame Inductee :)</P>
 
> "The Big Game"? I wonder if that's why the lottery people
> modified the name of their multi-state lottery game to "Mega
> Millions" some time back?


Yes. I think someone actually copyrighted "The Big Game" as a euphemism for "Super Bowl". And it is a rather lame term, you'd think people would just say "pro football championship" or something along those lines. That's what companies do when they want to say "World Series" or "(whichever is the BCS championship) Bowl" and someone else holds the official rights.
 
> Isn't it getting ridiculous that no one on the air - either
> on television or radio can mention the Super Bowl by name
> unless they are directly connected to the phony game. I see
> and hear local supermarkets dance around Super Bowl parties
> by calling them "The Big Game Party." Pure stupidity.
> Every mention of the SB should be considered free
> advertising of the stupid gladiator feast.

It may be stupid, but the NFL owns the exclusive rights to the "Super Bowl" name, as well as "Super Sunday" and the initials "NFL," "NFC," and "AFC." The individual teams own the copyrights to their own names. Nobody has the right to utter those names without permission of the league. If an advertiser or radio station is not licensed by the NFL to do so, they cannot use those names, or the names of the teams playing, in advertising. Even your neighborhood bar isn't allowed to have "Super Bowl parties" since they didn't get the NFL's permission to use the name.

I don't think this applies to news broadcasts or talk shows, though.

The link below is from 2 years ago but it still applies. Highlighted words are the result of my Google search. The original is a pdf file.

<a target="_blank" href=http://72.14.207.104/search?q=cache:9rl3oVUKO3sJ:www.lsl-law.com/publications/Superbowl.pdf+%22super+bowl%22+name+rights+advertising&hl=en&gl=us&ct=clnk&cd=9&lr=lang_en>Link: lsl-law.com</a>
 
> Isn't it getting ridiculous that no one on the air - either
> on television or radio can mention the Super Bowl by name
> unless they are directly connected to the phony game. I see
> and hear local supermarkets dance around Super Bowl parties
> by calling them "The Big Game Party." Pure stupidity.
> Every mention of the SB should be considered free
> advertising of the stupid gladiator feast.

Yeah, if they have a commercial enterprise of some sort they can't
mention it without permission. A few years ago a talk station in Boston
used to have a "Big Game Bash" event where people could watch it
on big screen, etc. Dean's chip dip had an ad where they talked
of a contest related to the SB; "we can't legally say the name
of this event, but winning the contest would be SUPER...like a
BOWL of Dean's dip".

Overprotective, money-hungry NFL. Am I watching it, though? "Are you ready
for some football!"--er, yes :0<P ID="signature">______________
raccoonradio5ap.gif
</P>
 
> > "The Big Game"? I wonder if that's why the lottery people
> > modified the name of their multi-state lottery game to
> "Mega
> > Millions" some time back?
>
>
> Yes. I think someone actually copyrighted "The Big Game" as
> a euphemism for "Super Bowl". And it is a rather lame term,
> you'd think people would just say "pro football
> championship" or something along those lines. That's what
> companies do when they want to say "World Series" or
> "(whichever is the BCS championship) Bowl" and someone else
> holds the official rights.
>
Well to those who hate it, do you support it? Are you going to watch the game? It may not be your policy but you tolerate it.

In reality though, many of these copyrite arguments are loose. For instance you can copywrite Acme Hardware, but that doesn't mean it's yours exclusively. As opposed to say if you copywrited "Sears Hardware." Sears is a recognized national brand, so it's copywrite protection would be valid in all 50 states. While you could reasonably expect to have two or three "Acme Hardware" where the copywrite is only enforced locally.

In the end these copywrites stand because even if the NFL lost the rights to Super Bowl, they would sue you into the ground till you had no money. McDonalds is pretty good about that. They just recently lost a case and back money to a guy who had the nerve to keep fighting their efforts to sue him

Also the NFL owns copywrite intitals ONLY in areas pertaining to sports. There are a lot of other NFL there. For instance you could have NFL the "National Flower Lobby." As long as they stood out of the sports area they'd be safe

Joel Hyatt, an attorney won over the "Hyatt Hotel" chain, after years of fighting. Imagine fighting to have to use the name "Hyatt Legal Services" when your name IS Joel HYATT. All he had to do was put a disclaimer on "Not affiliate with Hyatt Hotels"

So some of these case against copywrite may be winnable but no one will bother.<P ID="signature">______________
Once I figured out the meaning of life....Then I forgot to write it down.</P>
 
Best recent example is the ongoing "rasslin" over the WWF acronym. Vince McMahons World Wrestling Federation was pinned in court by the World Wildlif Fund.

However, McMahon reportedly is headed back to court as the Wildlife fund is apparantly demanding McMahon remove ALL WWF images dating back to the 1980s.
 
> > > "The Big Game"? I wonder if that's why the lottery
> people
> > > modified the name of their multi-state lottery game to
> > "Mega
> > > Millions" some time back?
> >
> >
> > Yes. I think someone actually copyrighted "The Big Game"
> as
> > a euphemism for "Super Bowl". And it is a rather lame
> term,
> > you'd think people would just say "pro football
> > championship" or something along those lines. That's what
>
> > companies do when they want to say "World Series" or
> > "(whichever is the BCS championship) Bowl" and someone
> else
> > holds the official rights.
> >
> Well to those who hate it, do you support it? Are you going
> to watch the game? It may not be your policy but you
> tolerate it.
>

I didn't say I hated it, just that it was lame. And I doubt any copyright would be enforceable, since "The Big Game" is the traditional name for the annual Cal-Stanford (or is it USC-UCLA? I know it's one of the big California matchups) college football contest and a common phrase.


> In reality though, many of these copyrite arguments are
> loose. For instance you can copywrite Acme Hardware, but
> that doesn't mean it's yours exclusively. As opposed to say
> if you copywrited "Sears Hardware." Sears is a recognized
> national brand, so it's copywrite protection would be valid
> in all 50 states. While you could reasonably expect to have
> two or three "Acme Hardware" where the copywrite is only
> enforced locally.

Usually in that type of situation, the various businesses would have to add other identifying words to their name, such as "Bob Smith's Acme Hardware", "Acme Hardware of Randomtown", etc.

>
> In the end these copywrites stand because even if the NFL
> lost the rights to Super Bowl, they would sue you into the
> ground till you had no money. McDonalds is pretty good about
> that. They just recently lost a case and back money to a guy
> who had the nerve to keep fighting their efforts to sue him
>
> Also the NFL owns copywrite intitals ONLY in areas
> pertaining to sports. There are a lot of other NFL there.
> For instance you could have NFL the "National Flower Lobby."
> As long as they stood out of the sports area they'd be safe
>
> Joel Hyatt, an attorney won over the "Hyatt Hotel" chain,
> after years of fighting. Imagine fighting to have to use the
> name "Hyatt Legal Services" when your name IS Joel HYATT.
> All he had to do was put a disclaimer on "Not affiliate with
> Hyatt Hotels"

Or simply add his first name. Unless Hyatt Hotels offers legal assistance, I don't see why they bothered to sue him to begin with.
 
> Best recent example is the ongoing "rasslin" over the WWF
> acronym. Vince McMahons World Wrestling Federation was
> pinned in court by the World Wildlif Fund.
>
> However, McMahon reportedly is headed back to court as the
> Wildlife fund is apparantly demanding McMahon remove ALL WWF
> images dating back to the 1980s.
>

Good reason NOT to donate to the World Wildlife Fund, if they are using their resources to sue the wrestling foundation instead of helping the animals.
 
Giant pandas are evil! Seriously, Vince McMahon largely with "WWF" since about 1979 or 1980. Why didn't the wildlife people sue him way back then? As for the tapes from the 1980s, I don't think it's the old school "WWF" logo that got them into trouble. Whenever they refer to anything before May of 2002 these days, they'll either say "former WWE champion" or "he was a two-time WORLD WRESTLING FEDERATION champion", but they won't say "WWF" now. <P ID="signature">______________
#13 Dan Marino...2005 Football Hall Of Fame Inductee :)</P>
 
> Giant pandas are evil! Seriously, Vince McMahon largely with
> "WWF" since about 1979 or 1980. Why didn't the wildlife
> people sue him way back then? As for the tapes from the
> 1980s, I don't think it's the old school "WWF" logo that got
> them into trouble. Whenever they refer to anything before
> May of 2002 these days, they'll either say "former WWE
> champion" or "he was a two-time WORLD WRESTLING FEDERATION
> champion", but they won't say "WWF" now.
>

On their DVDs, they can use the old WWF logo from the 80s/early 90s, but not the late 90s "scratch" logo. And, they can say "World Wrestling Federation" but not the initials "WWF".
The basis for the lawsuit is that the Wildlife people own the "WWF" trademark in Europe.
 
>
> On their DVDs, they can use the old WWF logo from the
> 80s/early 90s, but not the late 90s "scratch" logo. And,
> they can say "World Wrestling Federation" but not the
> initials "WWF".
> The basis for the lawsuit is that the Wildlife people own
> the "WWF" trademark in Europe.
>

I think it's stupid that they had to change the late 90s logo. The way I look at the logo, with the red line under it, it looks more like it saids "WWE". I don't see the letters "WWF" in it.<P ID="signature">______________
Tidewater MediaZone</P>
 
> Joel Hyatt, an attorney won over the "Hyatt Hotel" chain,
> after years of fighting. Imagine fighting to have to use the
> name "Hyatt Legal Services" when your name IS Joel HYATT.
> All he had to do was put a disclaimer on "Not affiliate with
> Hyatt Hotels"

One of the most ironic cases of two companies sharing a name...

Hershey Foods (the chocolate folks) and Hershey's Ice Cream. Both were founded in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania. Both were founded in the same year (1894). Both companies are still in business to this day. Their founders (Milton Hershey and Jacob Hershey, respectively) were not related. But the next time you buy some Hershey's Ice Cream, you will see somewhere on the package a disclaimer stating that they are not affiliated with Hershey Foods. Of course, that makes sense since Hershey Chocolate is known worldwide, while Hershey's Ice Cream remains a regional brand confined mostly to the eastern US. Gotta get me a half gallon of Hershey's Chocolate Moose Tracks® for that silly game later today. :)

Peace,
User 11648
 
One of the most ironic cases of two companies sharing a
> name...
>
> Hershey Foods (the chocolate folks) and Hershey's Ice Cream.
> Both were founded in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania. Both
> were founded in the same year (1894). Both companies are
> still in business to this day. Their founders (Milton
> Hershey and Jacob Hershey, respectively) were not related.
> But the next time you buy some Hershey's Ice Cream, you will
> see somewhere on the package a disclaimer stating that they
> are not affiliated with Hershey Foods. Of course, that
> makes sense since Hershey Chocolate is known worldwide,
> while Hershey's Ice Cream remains a regional brand confined
> mostly to the eastern US. Gotta get me a half gallon of
> Hershey's Chocolate Moose Tracks® for that silly game later
> today. :)
>
> Peace,
> User 11648
>


This just goes to show that you do indeed learn something new every day. We've had a Hershey's Ice Cream in town for years that I have visited many a summer night, and I never knew they were not related to Hershey Foods.
 
Isn't the phrase "The Game" a registered trademark jointly owned by Harvard and Yale Universities to promote their annual head-to-head college football game??
 
There's also The Winter Games starting Friday (February 10th) in T-word city in I-word country.
 
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