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Why can't you call it the Super Bowl? (Can't call it the Superbowl)
sbnation.com ^

Posted on 01/31/2014 4:15:10 AM PST by Red in Blue PA

ou've probably heard a bunch of local tire shops, strip clubs, and stereo stores promoting half-assed sales this weekend by alluding to some sort of championship football game, but not actually coming out and saying "The Super Bowl."

I, for one, am in favor of a strip club exemption for all copyright infringements as a blanket provision, but that's neither here nor there. The fact is, most companies are not allowed to use the phrases "Super Bowl" or "Super Sunday," both of which have been copyrighted by the NFL.

....

The NFL's lawyers have gone after big and small targets alike (from The Motley Fool):

A classic example occurred in 2007 leading up to Super Bowl XLI between the Indianapolis Colts and the Chicago Bears when the NFL sent a cease and desist letter to an Indiana church group that had advertised its party with an intent to charge admission. The letter led to several other church groups around the country to stop similar activities, the exact effect the NFL was seeking.

(Excerpt) Read more at sbnation.com ...


TOPICS: News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: footbowl; nfl; screwthenfl; superbowl
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To: Red in Blue PA

Well, being a nonprofit, the NFL has to protect its profits.


21 posted on 01/31/2014 5:09:39 AM PST by SampleMan (Feral Humans are the refuse of socialism.)
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To: SampleMan

That should be looked into also. Forgot about that.


22 posted on 01/31/2014 5:12:54 AM PST by Red in Blue PA (When Injustice becomes Law, Resistance Becomes Duty.-Thomas Jefferson)
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To: Cboldt

Radio ad from a few yrs ago that got away with it, for Dean’s Chip Dip:

“We can’t say the name of this event but it’s really Super...like a Bowl of Dean’s Dip.”


23 posted on 01/31/2014 5:13:49 AM PST by raccoonradio
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To: Red in Blue PA
From what I've read, the NFL doesn't really have much of a choice in this matter. This is more for the protection of their advertisers and sponsors than anything else. What drives this is that they've signed agreements with all kinds of companies for "exclusive" sponsorship rights to the Super Bowl, and if they don't protect this trademark then the corporate sponsors aren't really "exclusive" sponsors.

If Coca-Cola is the "official soft drink of the Super Bowl" and the NFL goes out and allows another commercial enterprise to sign a sponsorship deal with Pepsi for a "Super Bowl party" or a "Super Bowl edition of the Jay Leno Show" or something like that, then Coca-Cola isn't getting what they paid for.

24 posted on 01/31/2014 5:18:04 AM PST by Alberta's Child ("I've never seen such a conclave of minstrels in my life.")
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To: Red in Blue PA
Radio and teevee is weird that way. You cn play anything at home, but if a bar plays a radio (or jukebox) then it has to pay royalties.

Similar with trademark, NFL is attempting to retain exclusive control over use of the phrase. I'm not sure they'll succeed in the long run, see "aspirin."

25 posted on 01/31/2014 5:27:32 AM PST by Cboldt
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To: raccoonradio

I have heard of someone throwing a superb owl party. Celebrating the wise looking bird.


26 posted on 01/31/2014 5:29:41 AM PST by AdSimp
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To: Alberta's Child

The only reason I’d watch that game (can’t say “Super Bowl” or I would get sued) is to see those drunken dumb asses who spend all that money for a ticket. Too bad the weather appears to be “balmy”. Who is playing in that game anyway?


27 posted on 01/31/2014 5:31:02 AM PST by DaveA37
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To: Cboldt

Not copyright, but trademark. FWIW.


Thank you. Copyright is for works of authorship, like books, movies, telecasts, songs, and drawings. Copyright infringement is due to copying.

Trademark is for brands, which are usually, words, phrases, or logos. Trademark infringement is due to being confusingly similar, on related goods or services.

There’s a little overlap when an artistic work is also a logo.

This moronic article actually fails to give the answer to its own question.

The first answer is that the Super Bowl trademark covers broadcast and entertainment services, such as a little church gathering where admission is charged. The mark also covers all the different types of souvenir goods like shirts and hats.

But the NFL’s legal backfield has a few holes. Kraft owns Super Bowl for food, even though it started using its trademark about 10 years after the first super bowl.

The NFL would argue that its brand is a “famous” trademark (like Rolex, Coca-Cola, Cadillac, Smith & Wesson) and thus would be harmed by being used by others even on unrelated goods.

Even if so, that does not lawfully prevent the phrase “Super Bowl” from being used in a non-trademark sense. Yet the NFL still bullies others into fearing a baseless lawsuit for merely uttering the phrase.


28 posted on 01/31/2014 5:35:26 AM PST by Atlas Sneezed ("Income Inequality?" Let's start with Washington DC vs. the rest of the nation!)
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To: Red in Blue PA

can’t use Olympics either


29 posted on 01/31/2014 5:36:55 AM PST by morphing libertarian
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To: Alberta's Child

You posted to the wrong thread. This is an emotion driven thread.


30 posted on 01/31/2014 5:51:03 AM PST by Balding_Eagle (Over production, one of the top 5 worries for the American Farmer every year.)
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To: Red in Blue PA

OK, everyone, hope you already bought all your snacks and drinks for the

Consummate Basin!


31 posted on 01/31/2014 5:54:26 AM PST by MrB (The difference between a Humanist and a Satanist - the latter admits whom he's working for)
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To: Red in Blue PA

Stupor Bowl, Stupid Bowl, Pimple on the Ass of Time Bowl. All this stupidity could lead to the Boycott Bowl.


32 posted on 01/31/2014 5:57:33 AM PST by RJS1950 (The democrats are the "enemies foreign and domestic" cited in the federal oath)
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To: RJS1950

Colbert’s joke writers: Superb Owl

Gotta admit, kinda funny...


33 posted on 01/31/2014 6:02:28 AM PST by twister881
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To: OldPossum
I am proud to say that never in my life have I ever even walked by a TV set that had the Super Bowl on.

Hopefully, as you continue down the road of life, you will have other things to be proud of and to announce to the world.

/snarky comments (of which I am NOT proud)

PS If your comment was, in fact, satire, then my comment never happened... The Vast Right(Left?) Wing Conspiracy is trying to impugn my reputation!

34 posted on 01/31/2014 6:21:24 AM PST by BwanaNdege
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To: Red in Blue PA

How about in Spanish...Bowl de Super!


35 posted on 01/31/2014 6:26:09 AM PST by tophat9000 (Are we headed to a Cracker Slacker War?)
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To: OldPossum

I salute you. I haven’t watched a stupor bowl since the early 80s.


36 posted on 01/31/2014 6:50:14 AM PST by wally_bert (There are no winners in a game of losers. I'm Tommy Joyce, welcome to the Oriental Lounge.)
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To: deadrock

World champs is another weird pronouncement
= = = = = = = = = = = =
Like when the wag(s) say

“Americans won’t stand for another _______”

My question is “Who talked to the Panamanians and/or Peruvians?”


37 posted on 01/31/2014 8:46:14 AM PST by xrmusn (6/98 --Because you have your head up your arse doesn't mean you have to have a crappy outlook.)
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FUMBLE BALL is FUMBLEBALL.....


38 posted on 01/31/2014 9:24:16 AM PST by S.O.S121.500 (Had Enough Yet ?............................ Enforce the Bill of Rights............ It's the LAW !!!)
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To: Red in Blue PA

I understand the point, but that is the wrong example. Having worked for over a decade at the Anaheim Theme Park, I can assure you, any commercial use of their name, without a written agreement in place, WILL attract the attention of their fully staffed legal department. Thank you.


39 posted on 01/31/2014 9:25:08 AM PST by jttpwalsh
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To: Red in Blue PA

I’ll start worrying about it when they stop trying to strip the name of the team from the Washington Redskins.


40 posted on 01/31/2014 10:29:42 AM PST by Cyber Liberty (H.L. Mencken: "The urge to save humanity is almost always a false front for the urge to rule.")
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