Annual Reminder: You Can Probably Just Call The Super Bowl The Super Bowl

Annual Reminder: You Can Probably Just Call The Super Bowl The Super Bowl

3 years ago
Anonymous $K6XgmDN5_o

https://www.techdirt.com/articles/20210203/09421546171/annual-reminder-you-can-probably-just-call-super-bowl-super-bowl.shtml

It's that special time of year again where we here at Techdirt need to remind you that, no, the NFL cannot keep you from referring to The Super Bowl as The Super Bowl, full stop. While the NFL stomps around the entire country every year, slapping down bars and churches for hosting Super Bowl parties, all while an extremely unhelpful media plays along, the truth is that most of the bullying the NFL does isn't over actual trademark infringement. Sure, if some business advertises some association or endorsement by the NFL, that would be trademark infringement. Or if they claimed endorsement of the game or the NFL, that too would be infringing use. But a church simply hosting a Super Bowl party is not trademark infringement.

And, of course, the silliest output of this confusion is people and companies using half-baked euphemisms to refer to the Super Bowl instead. Everyone knows what they're talking about and, yet, this somehow isn't infringing. So, were there any confusion, it would still exist, and yet the NFL relents. The most common of these has been "The Big Game", of course, and its use continues to this day.

Annual Reminder: You Can Probably Just Call The Super Bowl The Super Bowl

Feb 4, 2021, 4:18am UTC
https://www.techdirt.com/articles/20210203/09421546171/annual-reminder-you-can-probably-just-call-super-bowl-super-bowl.shtml > It's that special time of year again where we here at Techdirt need to remind you that, no, the NFL cannot keep you from referring to The Super Bowl as The Super Bowl, full stop. While the NFL stomps around the entire country every year, slapping down bars and churches for hosting Super Bowl parties, all while an extremely unhelpful media plays along, the truth is that most of the bullying the NFL does isn't over actual trademark infringement. Sure, if some business advertises some association or endorsement by the NFL, that would be trademark infringement. Or if they claimed endorsement of the game or the NFL, that too would be infringing use. But a church simply hosting a Super Bowl party is not trademark infringement. > And, of course, the silliest output of this confusion is people and companies using half-baked euphemisms to refer to the Super Bowl instead. Everyone knows what they're talking about and, yet, this somehow isn't infringing. So, were there any confusion, it would still exist, and yet the NFL relents. The most common of these has been "The Big Game", of course, and its use continues to this day.