Trademark Law

In sports the brand image is everything. A key to being successful is to high fan identification with your team. A key component of this identification is the name, logo, and colors of the team. Since these are crucial to a successful sports organization they are often trademarked. A trademark includes “any word, name, symbol, or device, or any combination thereof…used by some entity to identify and distinguish the services of one person, including a unique service, from the services of others and to indicate the source of the services, even if that source is unknown.” This means that thing such as a team name or logo is protected under federal law and cannot be used without the owner’s permission. By doing so they would be infringing on the team’s trademark and potentially causing harm to owner in several ways. One way is the loss of potential revenue that occurs when people sell unlicensed apparel. For example, this is common when a team wins a championship as many individuals see a chance to make a quick buck and create their own t-shirts and sell them without the team’s permission. After the Saints won the Super Bowl there were street vendors on corners or in front of grocery stores selling unlicensed apparel.

While trademark laws are definitely needed and effective it can also have its drawbacks. In 1997 the Houston Oilers moved to Tennessee and eventually changed their name to the Titans. However, owner Bud Adams refused to relinquish the trademark on the name Oilers. So when the city of Houston was awarded an NFL team they were unable to use the name. This was devastating to the fan base who loved the name, logo, and colors. Football didn’t seem the same if they couldn’t be called the Oilers. By contrast the former Cleveland Browns owner allowed the trademark to transfer to back when the city was awarded an expansion team. After a few years people had forgotten that the Browns ever left. However this is one of the few downsides to trademark law in sports. Since licensing of the team name, colors, and logo is such a large source of revenue it is important that they be protected at all costs.

Link:

http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/news/story?id=6424084

A judge rules in favor of the players in the NFL lockout dispute. This is interesting because perhaps it clears the way for the NFL to resume normal operations and not cause any games to be cut this season.