« News - Iranians in Gaza | Main | Start with building a Straw-Conservative »

February 04, 2007

That football, game-day thingy .....

Confession time ... I don't follow pro-football. Oh heck, I don't much follow any professional sports.

However, excuse me if I find the downright aggressive manners of the NFL in tracking down and hounding every last person who utters "Super Bowl" without properly shoving some dinero their way not only rude but counter-productive to encouraging people like me to become part of the fan base.

As nearly all Americans know,Super Bowl XLI will be played Sunday in Miami. But you don't hear the words "Super Bowl" or many references to the NFL's trademarked terms on radio, television, in print or on the Internet beyond what officially is licensed by the league. That's because football's most effective offense isn't a product of Peyton Manning's arm, but rather the NFL's squad of in-house lawyers who are particularly aggressive -- some say overly aggressive -- in enforcing its intellectual property rights.

Working from a modern Park Avenue headquarters, an eight-person department of trademark and copyright specialists monitors everything from local radio programs to telephone-poll advertisements, looking for mentions of off-limits words or images. This proactive strategy also includes sending out thousands of "reminder" letters each year to global advertising giants and communities where the game is played, setting out what can and can't be said in promotional materials.

How silly is it that Dolly's Diner can't hand out fliers to their customers advertising a 2 for 1 lunch promotion for Super Sunday without facing a legal suit, unless Dolly uses euphemisms like The Big Game? Is anyone "confused" that Dolly does not really have official connections to the NFL?

And far be it that it is only so-called commercial venues that the NFL lawyers harass remind to justify their salaries. The NFL doesn't want churches to have Big Game parties at all.

NFL spokesman Greg Aiello said the league's longstanding policy is to ban "mass out-of-home viewing" of the Super Bowl.
So hopefully when you sent out your invitations to your own Super Bowl™ Party this year you used the approved wording of The Big Game.

Or you may be hearing from the NFL™ lawyers next week.

Posted by Darleen at February 4, 2007 11:13 AM

Comments