ALS Association Responds To Public Outcry; Withdraws Trademark Application On Ice Bucket Challenge

from the a-bit-late,-but-good-for-them dept

Fri, Aug 29th 2014 12:02pm — Mike Masnick

Yesterday we wrote about the ALS Association trying to trademark "ice bucket challenge" despite having absolutely nothing to do with the ice bucket challenge or its rise to viral fame. A lot of other news sites also wrote about the story, and there was quite an uproar on Twitter. At first, the ALS Association defended the move claiming that it only did so "after seeing many examples of unscrupulous profiteers trying to drive revenue to themselves, instead of the fight against ALS." However, a little while ago, the ALS Association reached out to us (and via their Twitter feed, it appears they're trying to respond to pretty much everyone) to say that it has withdrawn the trademark application:

The ALS Association filed for these trademarks in good faith as a measure to protect the Ice Bucket Challenge from misuse after consulting with the families who initiated the challenge this summer. However, we understand the public’s concern and are withdrawing the trademark applications. We appreciate the generosity and enthusiasm of everyone who has taken the challenge and donated to ALS charities.

As many people pointed out, this seemed like yet another example of lawyers stepping in to tell people what they can do (or, at least can try to do) without anyone ever bothering to think about whether or not they should do it. At least the ALS Association realized how bad this was eventually and withdrew the applications. Not everything needs to be owned. If people are abusing the Ice Bucket Challenge, there are ways to deal with that, including public shaming. Like the public shame that convinced the ALS Association to withdraw its trademark application.

Extra kudos to Erik Pelton, the trademark lawyer who originally spotted the application, and was vocal in explaining why it was a bad idea for the ALS Foundation.

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: als, ice bucket challenge, lou gehrig's disease, ownership, trademark
Companies: als association

13 Comments

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

Reader Comments

Subscribe: RSS

View by: Time | Thread

Nastybutler77 (profile), 29 Aug 2014 @ 12:37pm

At least they have more sense than the Susan G Korman(sp) bastards do.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Anonymous Coward, 29 Aug 2014 @ 12:43pm

Re:
Actually, it's probably a good thing that you spelled it like they don't. They want their name used in print only if you are writing them a check.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Anonymous Coward, 29 Aug 2014 @ 12:56pm

Misuse??! Seriously? That's like saying a hashtag is misused. What utter nonsense. They just wanted to capitalized on it.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Anonymous Coward, 29 Aug 2014 @ 1:13pm

Re: Re:
I do not contribute to Susan K for reasons like this.

Or most other "Charities" that do immoral or corrupt shit.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Anonymous Coward, 29 Aug 2014 @ 2:11pm

Just a couple of things
It's good - it's great - that they walked back on this one. Maybe they can sober up whoever had that brain fart and show them the door.

Any 20something could have told them internet memes have the half-life of a submarine sandwich at a fat camp - trying to trademark it was just stupid.

I guess no one asked "the families who initiated the challenge" where they came up with the idea - absolutely NO ONE owns memes.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
nasch (profile), 29 Aug 2014 @ 2:57pm

Re: Just a couple of things
Maybe they can sober up whoever had that brain fart and show them the door.

Firing someone for a single mistake would be a stupid way to run an organization.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
John A Damgaard III (profile), 29 Aug 2014 @ 8:47pm

Direct TV
If we are going to watch commercials,
then we should receive free service.

If we are going to pay for service,
then we should not have to watch
commercials.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Anonymous Coward, 30 Aug 2014 @ 2:30am

Re: Re: Just a couple of things
Thats what the police union said.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Anonymous Coward, 30 Aug 2014 @ 5:28am

Re:
I think what they were getting at was they were trying to prevent another company from trademarking it and being total assholes with it.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Anonymous Coward, 30 Aug 2014 @ 8:21am

Re: Re: Re: Just a couple of things
Because filing a stupid trademark application is the same as beating the shit out of people.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Reality bites, 30 Aug 2014 @ 7:18pm

Lawyers are always wrong...... they are just built that way.
Expecting a lawyer to be human is like expecting a zealot not to be crazy..... not going to happen.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Eldakka (profile), 31 Aug 2014 @ 11:43pm

Maybe they should have trademarked:

"The ALS Ice Bucket Challenge", with it's scope/market limited to raising money for ALS?
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Anonymous Coward, 1 Sep 2014 @ 5:46am

The role of a lawyer is supposed to embrace both that of advocate and counselor. It appears to be the case that the ALS' counsel abrogated the latter.
[ link to this | view in thread ]