Washington Post: 'Buzzkill'

Georgia Tech has over 400 licensing agreements signed with high schools around the USA. This one, with Damascus High School in Maryland, did not cover a logo on the town's water tower.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/mar...story.html

In this country if you know about infringement on the mark and don't do anything about it you can lose the mark. This is what happens when the letter of the law clashes with reality. Similarly, Adobe has probably lost all hope of being able to defend the marks for "Photoshop" since we've turned it into a verb and it has since entered the dictionary. Adobe tried to stop the use of Photoshop as a verb for about a decade.

Typewriter used to be a brand name of an IBM typing machine. Coke has been known to go to places that don't serve Coca-Cola and ask for a Coke. If you don't tell them you have Pepsi they send you a cease and desist letter.

There is an entire industry that looks for trademark infringement. It's not just sports, it's also big in the entertainment industry. Use "Star Wars" or an actors image without paying watch how fast the vultures land.

Most of the recreation league teams in my area now use pro-team names. Apparently they are not as strict about having a Little League team use their name.

Ultimately I see GT allowing this. Personally, I would jump on the publicity. I would pay the $17k for the HS sign and put Buzz beside it.

(07-05-2017 10:57 AM)Wolfman Wrote:  Ultimately I see GT allowing this. Personally, I would jump on the publicity.

Yes. With high schools and community groups it's usually in the interest of universities to (1) establish their property rights, then (2) offer generous permissions. Make things clear, then be a good sport.

Here the problem was the water tower. It's not covered in the high school's contract with GT. If you're the local professional being engaged to paint a GT-derived emblem on its side, you want to know everything is cool.

Band-Aid is an actual, trademarked, brand; anything else is an Adhesive Bandage. You can call adhesive strips band-aids all you want, but as soon as you use it in advertising without permission, it's trademark infringement.

NC State has been down this road with the University of Nevada at Reno - they are the Wolf Pack, not Wolfpack. It was okay for years until they put out merchandise that featured "Toughie - AKA "Strutting Wolf" that we had first used in the 1950's. Southern Cal and South Carolina have also had spats over what USC can look like and what it can't.

A friend of mine is a big Star Wars fan. He made a Darth Vader costume for himself and built a working R2D2. They are so good Disney hires him to go to promotions.

He started out doing kids parties and whatnot. Lucasfilm got wind of it and came down pretty hard. Eventually, Lucas himself got involved and reason prevailed. I think he signed an agreement that confirmed Lucasfilm retained the rights and if he made over a certain amount he had to pay fees.