Comments on: Super Bowl Question

By: Nicole

Nicole — Sun, 03 Feb 2008 14:28:50 +0000

S000000 just how much trouble is Cathy Guisewite in — She used the term S***R B**L (I don’t want any letters form the NFL) four times in this Sundays comic

http://picayune.uclick.com/comics/ca/2008/ca080203.gif

By: Nicole

Nicole — Sun, 03 Feb 2008 14:28:19 +0000

S000000 just how much trouble is Cathy Guisewite in — She used the term S***R B**L (I don’t want any letters form the NFL) four times in this Sundhttp://picayune.uclick.com/comics/ca/2008/ca080203.gif

By: eeyore19

eeyore19 — Sat, 02 Feb 2008 16:52:42 +0000

The radio station I listen to had an ad last year for their Super Bowl party that started off with listing “words you can’t say on radio.” They recited the standard George Carlin “7 words” list (bleeped out, of course), and finished it off with a partially bleeped “Super Bowl.” “Thanks to the NFL’s lawyers, we’re not allowed to say Su******l anymore.” The rest of the commercial was a long string of bleeps as the announcer told us about getting “****faced at our ****ing great Su******l party.”

By: Nicole

Nicole — Sat, 02 Feb 2008 15:50:05 +0000

So — “The Big Game” is everywhere. I am on the mailing list for Sepora — for the guys here think Home Depot — but for cosmetics. Anyway I just got a special offer for free shipping but only while the “BIG GAME” is on — lol

By: Alan Hamilton

Alan Hamilton — Sat, 02 Feb 2008 05:50:54 +0000

#14: Yep. Companies pay a lot to be the “Official Earwax Removal System of the NFL”.

By: Frosted Donut

Frosted Donut — Fri, 01 Feb 2008 21:57:28 +0000

Not to defend the NFL, but there’s one other thing to consider: if they don’t aggressively defend their trademark, it may fall into common usage and then ANYbody can call any game a “Super Bowl.”

It’s happened to kerosene, dry ice, and aspirin–all of them used to be trademarks, but are now considered regular words. So the NFL has some legal obligation to show that they are protecting their property.

Do they go too far? To us laypeople: yes. To a lawyer: is it possible to go too far?

By: Cidu Bill

Cidu Bill — Fri, 01 Feb 2008 19:12:44 +0000

What I suspect is that the NFL (and the others) make money licensing out these trademarks and would be less able to do so if they allowed people to use them for free in any context.

By: Schist Happens

Schist Happens — Fri, 01 Feb 2008 18:54:13 +0000

Of course, “March Madness®” is a trademark, too, as are Three-peat, The Academy Awards, The Oscars, Miss America, etc. It’s one thing if they just use that power to keep others from profiting from their name and from besmirching it (i.e. strip clubs or porn) but it does seem to get ridiculous.

By: Michael

Michael — Fri, 01 Feb 2008 18:15:05 +0000

The NFL did try to trademark the term “Big Game” because they felt too many commercial enterprises were making money off it without paying to be official game sponsors. In the end they had to give it up since the term “Big Game” was well established as the name of the annual Cal-Stanford football game since 1900.

There’s a brief mention of it on Wikipedia’s “Big Game” entry under “Naming Rights” at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Big_Game_(football)

By: DPWally

DPWally — Fri, 01 Feb 2008 16:07:07 +0000

Silly NFL. When people forget there’s a game this weekend, it’ll be their fault.

I just figured stores/bars were re-using their signs - start a “big game” promotion before the playoffs, leave it up through the *****bowl, revive it during March Madness, etc.