WWE's Vince McMahon Threatens Wine School For Having A Sommelier Smackdown

from the trademark-smackdown dept

Tue, Oct 13th 2009 3:40pm — Mike Masnick

Wrestling entertainment mogul Vince McMahon apparently thinks he controls the use of the word "smackdown" to describe non-wrestling competitions as well, as his lawyers have sent a cease and desist to the Wine School of Philadelphia for daring to have a Sommelier Smackdown competition. I wonder how many wines the average "moron in a hurry" would have to drink before thinking that the Sommelier Smackdown was somehow associated with World Wrestling Entertainment. Hopefully, the lawyers from the Wine School of Philadelphia will show McMahon how a Trademark Smackdown works.

Thank you for reading this Techdirt post. With so many things competing for everyone’s attention these days, we really appreciate you giving us your time. We work hard every day to put quality content out there for our community.

Techdirt is one of the few remaining truly independent media outlets. We do not have a giant corporation behind us, and we rely heavily on our community to support us, in an age when advertisers are increasingly uninterested in sponsoring small, independent sites — especially a site like ours that is unwilling to pull punches in its reporting and analysis.

While other websites have resorted to paywalls, registration requirements, and increasingly annoying/intrusive advertising, we have always kept Techdirt open and available to anyone. But in order to continue doing so, we need your support. We offer a variety of ways for our readers to support us, from direct donations to special subscriptions and cool merchandise — and every little bit helps. Thank you.

–The Techdirt Team

Filed Under: smackdown, sommelier, trademark, vince mchmahon, wine tasting
Companies: wine school of philadelphia, wwe

21 Comments

If you liked this post, you may also be interested in...

Reader Comments

Subscribe: RSS

View by: Time | Thread

PRMan, 13 Oct 2009 @ 4:19pm

I hope...
I hope they don't plan on serving any RAW wines in the near future...
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
- Anonymous Coward, 13 Oct 2009 @ 4:30pm
  
  Re: I hope...
  Grape juice?
  [ link to this | view in chronology ]
- Randy Savage, 13 Oct 2009 @ 5:10pm
  
  Re: I hope...
  OK now I get it on my third read through. Funny.
  [ link to this | view in chronology ]
Freedom, 13 Oct 2009 @ 4:25pm

Idea...
I've got an idea - as part of getting a trademark on anything, you have to agree that any trademark disputes will first have to be submitted to a trademark board. This board will evalate x basic criteria. Unless you get their approval you can't go ahead and threaten or actually sue anyone for trademark abuse - period. Basically you need their stamp that you aren't a trademark moron.

Freedom
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
- RAW hate., 13 Oct 2009 @ 5:02pm
  
  Re: Idea...
  Ugh. Who's that jackass that sets his elbow in one hand and waves the other in front of his face in those ads? Is that a McMahon product? Makes me wanna hurl a full bottle of anything at the TV screen.
  
  And I like your idea.
  [ link to this | view in chronology ]
- ChurchHatesTucker (profile), 13 Oct 2009 @ 5:21pm
  
  Re: Idea...
  That would pretty much be the USPTO. See how that's working out?
  [ link to this | view in chronology ]
  - Anonymous Coward, 13 Oct 2009 @ 8:06pm
    
    Re: Re: Idea...
    Except the USPTO doesn't touch complaints, now do they? You've got a trademark complaint, you don't go to them, you get a lawyer. See how that's working out?
    [ link to this | view in chronology ]
    - ChurchHatesTucker (profile), 14 Oct 2009 @ 8:06am
      
      Re: Re: Re: Idea...
      "Except the USPTO doesn't touch complaints, now do they?"
      
      Yeah, they do.
      http://www.uspto.gov/web/offices/dcom/ttab/index.html
      [ link to this | view in chronology ]
- Dan, 14 Oct 2009 @ 12:27am
  
  Re: Idea...
  How about, if the plaintiff loses, he automatically forfeits treble the amount of his complaint to the defendant plus legal fees. That should damp things down a bit.
  [ link to this | view in chronology ]
Ernest Gallo, 13 Oct 2009 @ 5:08pm

In my best Randy Savage voice "Ohhh yeeeeaaaah!!!"
Can you smellllll what the vintner is fermenting?
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Anonymous Coward, 13 Oct 2009 @ 7:54pm

Just for a little more context...
Okay, not that this trademark threat isn't utterly idiotic, but there is a little more behind it...at least, I think, if I have my facts right.

If my brief Googling of word etymology is correct, "smackdown" is a word coined by The Rock (famous wrestler, current actor) from his popular catchphrase "laying the smackdown". The TV Wrestling brand was later named after this catchphrase.

So, while it's still a ridiculous threat, it's slightly less ridiculous when you consider that word itself was created from one of McMahon's employees.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Allen (profile), 13 Oct 2009 @ 8:08pm

Hmm Moron in a hurry?
I dont know, they may have a point: we're talking about wresting fans here...

/joke people, it's a joke
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Anonymous Coward, 13 Oct 2009 @ 9:08pm

Re: In my best Randy Savage voice "Ohhh yeeeeaaaah!!!"
Wasn't that The Rock?
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
dalibor, 13 Oct 2009 @ 11:11pm

GO WWE!!!
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Matt Ronas, 14 Oct 2009 @ 5:55am

I'm With Allen On This One
Most wrestling fan’s are pretty dumb, and while they don’t drink wine, they definitely put down a ton of beer -- that with an already low IQ… SOMMELIER SMACKDOWN WOOOOOO!!!!

And unlike Allen, I’m not joking
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
- Doc, 14 Oct 2009 @ 6:37am
  
  Re: I'm With Allen On This One
  I think you are wrong about wrestling fans. Yes, back in the day it was pretty redneck. However, in the 90s wrestling was the in thing. WWF/E and WCW shows were top rated shows on cable TV on Monday nights. As the decade closed wrestling became less chic.
  
  I am a life long wrestling fan, I have a college degree, work in IT, I am an MCSE, CCNA, CNA, A+ and Net+ certs (all current). I don't think I have a low IQ. I have lots of friends that are professionals and are pretty damned smart as well. So I think you should look at the current demographics from the WWE before you shoot your uneducated mouth off about what makes up a particular sub-culture of people.
  
  I do agree that Vince is a jack ass most of the time, but don't confuse the man with the character on TV. He's taken a small regional business and made it a world wide brand. The company is worth millions, and is still a top rated show on cable TV on Monday nights. Also RAW is one of the longest running shows on TV bar none.
  
  Now his trademark suit is a joke. Frankly all these types of suits lately make me want to puke. Every time someone comes up with something new and cool, they are hauled in to court by these trolls because they hold a patent on this or that. This whole idea of IP has become a Pandora's box.
  [ link to this | view in chronology ]
RadialSkid, 14 Oct 2009 @ 9:02am

"Yes, back in the day it was pretty redneck."

He didn't say redneck. He said pretty dumb.

And funny how you call him "uneducated," when you took offense at his making the same assumption about wrestling fans.

Pot, meet kettle. You're both black.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Beth - The Wine School, 15 Oct 2009 @ 9:21am

WWE vs. WSOP
Hey - I'm with the Wine School and wanted to say thanks for running the story! To add flames to the fire (perhaps?), the school is going to run a Red Wine Cagematch class! Check it out at www.vinology.com. Think Vince'll show up?
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
undertaker, 5 Nov 2009 @ 9:09am

Vince McMahon is gone mad.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Orion751 (profile), 20 Sep 2010 @ 5:24pm

McMahon Probably Got the Idea from the World Wildlife Fund
Found this story when googling to find out whether or not Techdirt covered the story that changed WWE's name from WWF (might be before this site emerged).

Something tells me that CM Punk had something to do with this though :).
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Orion751 (profile), 21 Sep 2010 @ 5:52pm

Not McMahon's Only Offense
It might be worth noting that WWE has tried to copyright moves and physical gestures.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]