For years, athletic leagues, collegiate sports associations, and
professional teams have dominated the savvy use of intellectual property procurement to
solidify their ownership of not only the teams, leagues and associations
themselves, but to also monopolize the ownership of the name and likeness of
the players that earn these entities billions of dollars annually.
This issue was brought to light in the legal world in the
notable appellate battle between professional sports leagues and the fantasy
leagues which profited off of the statistics, names, logos, and slogans
associated with these various league's players and teams.
The ruling in C.B.C. Distribution v. Major League Baseball,
a case denied cert by the Supreme Court, leaving in place the final decision of
the Eighth Circuit, held that the First Amendment interests in public
information about baseball and baseball players outweighed the players’ state
law right of publicity.
What was interesting about the ruling was those rights of
publicity allegedly the property of the "players" was actually the
property of MLB, thus the basis for the league, not a group of players,
standing as the plaintiffs in the case.
It may have been this ruling and the attention it received that
began the trend of players taking control of their own name and likeness, a
trend reflected in a significant amount of professional and collegiate athletes
acting swiftly in personally protecting the nicknames assigned to them by
teammates, fans, and the media.
Just in the last year, we have had Jeremy Lin and his legal
disputes over the ownership of the LINSANITY trademark. Next it was No. 1
NBA Draft Pick Anthony Davis and his series of self-deprecating trademarks
centered around his unusual UNIBROW trademark look.
Heisman winner JOHNNY FOOTBALL made sure the NFL didn't get its
hands on the famous moniker bestowed upon the young QB out of Texas, a
trademark which could earn him as much as his rookie contract given its already
ubiquitous presence in the media and its potential for endless forms of
commercial use in the coming seasons.
Just this week, further evidence came from the USPTO that
players view the value of their own intellectual property as essential tools to further profit from their unique talents, especially given the sometimes short
playing careers of professional athletes due to injuries, lack luster play, and
sometimes an absence of opportunity.
Seemingly just hours after confirming he was sure to be one of
the feel good stories covered by the media from every angle imaginable during
the two weeks leading up to the Superbowl, Colin Kapernick took steps to ensure
that no one but himself would stand to benefit from his meteoric rise to
national fame.
As a late draft pick, his ability to profit from his personal
branding efforts is yet another example of professional athletes taking back
the profits normally taken by the leagues they play for, and a demonstration
that athletes can play the branding game just as well as leagues and teams
their personal brands result from.
Here are the trademarks CK7 recently filed with the USPTO:
1. Colin
Kaepernick: Clothing, namely, shirts, pants, jackets,
footwear, hats and caps, jerseys
2. Kaepernick CK7:
Clothing, namely, shirts, pants, jackets, footwear, hats and caps, jerseys
3. Kap7:
Clothing, namely, shirts, pants, jackets, footwear, hats and caps, jerseys
4. Kap:
Clothing, namely, shirts, pants, jackets, footwear, hats and caps, jerseys
5. Kaepernick7:
Clothing, namely, shirts, pants, jackets, footwear, hats and caps, jerseys
6. Kaepernicking:
Clothing, namely, shirts
No comments:
Post a Comment
www.bviplaw.com