NFL threatens man's legal right to copyright

[Cajuncowboy]

Big bully NFL and their lawyers.

A year ago, as the Baltimore Ravens under coach John Harbaugh and San Francisco 49ers under coach Jim Harbaugh advanced through the NFL playoffs, there was talk of a potential brother-vs-brother Super Bowl – a “Harbowl,” as some sportswriters had begun calling it.

Roy Fox of Pendleton, Indiana, is an ordinary football fan who had an idea: make T-shirts and hats with the word “Harbowl” on them, and sell them for some extra cash in case these brothers did ever meet up in a future Super Bowl. Mr. Fox remembered how Lakers Coach Pat Riley famously made money by trademarking the term “Three-Peat,” Fox told me this week, and so he decided to trademark “Harbowl” and “Harbaughbowl.”

Read more on how the NFL and lawyers all need to be kicked in the groin.

http://washingtonexaminer.com/the-ma...8#.UQFCGWdM04x

[Reality]

The problem is his use of the word "bowl" and the fact that it is tied to the "Super Bowl". It's the same reason that Facebook will go after sites with the word "face" in them if they are in any way social networking related or associating themselves with Facebook.

I agree that it is petty, but trademark laws require that companies enforce their trademark rights or risk losing them in the future. If the NFL lets this one go, then the next time they go after someone, their lawyers will point out how they let this one go which will make their claims harder to back up.

If he was doing it for charity or something like that, a lot of times the trademark owner will work out a special license agreement for a one-time use for a very small amount, just to help protect them from setting a fair use precedent in the future while avoiding negative publicity.

In this situation though, the money and weight that the NFL has can be used to legally shut him down just long enough that the market is gone (post-Super Bowl) for him.

/reality

[Cajuncowboy]

It's just crushing the entrepreneurial spirit is all. And the word Bowl has nothing to do with it. The fact that we have tons of college "Bowl" games that were before the Super Bowl was even around is proof of that. Should the NCAA sue the NFL for using the word "Bowl"?

It's the NFL being the normal big bully they always have.

[Reality]

Originally Posted by Cajuncowboy

It's just crushing the entrepreneurial spirit is all. And the word Bowl has nothing to do with it. The fact that we have tons of college "Bowl" games that were before the Super Bowl was even around is proof of that. Should the NCAA sue the NFL for using the word "Bowl"?

It's the NFL being the normal big bully they always have.

I agree It's one thing to say, "Hey, we're going to market that ourselves!" and it's another to say, "We're not doing anything with it, but we don't want you to either!"

/reality

[Cajuncowboy]

Originally Posted by Reality

I agree It's one thing to say, "Hey, we're going to market that ourselves!" and it's another to say, "We're not doing anything with it, but we don't want you to either!"

/reality

Yeah, that blows chucks big time.