NHL Seems To Think Cheering On Your Favorite Team Is Infringement
from the insanity dept
Of the "major" sports leagues, generally the NHL has been the most reasonable, compared to the MLB, NFL and NBA, on intellectual property issues. However, it apparently still has moments of insanity. The NHL's legal department has apparently threatened a car dealership for having posted decals on its window saying "Go Canucks Go," in cheering on the Canucks in the NHL playoffs."Consumers are likely to be misled that the Vancouver Canucks have an official relationship with your dealership," NHL legal counsel Kelley Lynch wrote in the letter.Plainly speaking, that's ridiculous. How long until fans will have to pay a team just to cheer them on? The dealership's manager points out the particular irony in this, since the team's slogan is apparently "We're all Canucks." Except when the lawyers get involved.
Ah, but that's not all. A radio station in Vancouver has also received a cease and desist letter from the NHL, claiming that a contest it was airing violated the NHL's intellectual property. The problem? The radio station was letting fans of the Canucks take a sledge hammer to a van that was painted with logos of the opposing teams that the Canucks were facing, and of course they're saying that the use of the logos is infringing. That is, once again, ridiculous. No one is going to think that's an "officially sponsored" contest by the NHL. It's just some fans cheering on their team.
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*crickets*
I guess that's the question no one ever bothers to ask before firing off a letter.
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Re: Like a infection
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Oh shit now I'm gettin sued.
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A Little Ditty
Hockey S***s
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Canucks Ticket - $185
Canucks Replica Jersey - $115
Dinner/Drinks at a Watch Party - $20
Sports Pack on DirecTV - $13
Radio play-by-play - I'd say priceless but I doubt anyone can limit themselves to being a fan through radio only.
I'm wondering why only the Canucks are being sheltered from those greedy people providing support and free advertising for their team. Is the NHL preparing the 'official Stanley cup champion' product line before the playoffs are over? Is Miller Lite already printing up Canuck logos on their beer cans?
Smelly
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If you can not post up a sign "Go Canucks Go" then all the Vancouver city buses must be pulled off the road.
The route sign on all the buses flash the 'Route Name & #" then flashes "Go Cunucks Go".
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To be fair...
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Re: To be fair...
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But that would just reveal the truth that sports teams are interchangeable and sports fanaticism is just commercially exploitable micro-ultra-nationalism. We can't be that honest.
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You can thank Gary Bettman for this...
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Who forgot the disclaimer?
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GO CANUCKS GO*
*This sign is a purely fan based cheer for the home team sponsored by the Canuck loving employees who work here. The Canucks and the NHL do no sponsor or endorse this dealership in any way shape or form and had absolutely no involve what so ever with this display. This is just our way to lend support to the home team and should not be taken as anything else.
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Next thing
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Implied sponsorship
I guess the deciding factor would be whether the dealer posted the signs because they like the team and wanted to show their support or if they did it in hopes of attracting fans and increasing sales.
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Revised sticker
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The irony
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T-shirts
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They now all have "Go Canucks Go" signs posted.
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