Morons at the University of Wisconsin

[Phenomenal Smith]

Your tax dollars at work.

 

How the heck do you copyright a single letter anyway? At some point every "W" has to look somewhat like every other "W" or it loses its function.

[Phenomenal Smith]

More examples:

http://www.jsonline.com/story/index.aspx?id=537657

 

http://thesportslawprofessor.blogspot.com/2006/12/u-wisconsin-will-not-be-denied.html

[patrickgpe]

this has come up before, and a bunch of schools had to change logo's due to copyright infringement. Although I am no supporter of the univeristy, I see their point. They were the first put that type of W on their helmets, and a lot of schools followed suit. If they want to protect their merchandise and keep their logo orginal, its their choice. Its the system and they took advantage of it.

[Brian the Automator]

Sweet, I guess my Waukee High School shirt is going to increase in value.

[RobertR]

It's a Trademark not a Copyright. There is a difference.

 

A red and white W of a specific font/shape is certainly something that is distinguishable from each other. And, the law basically states that you have to actively protect that trademark to keep it from falling into the public domain. These types of stories happen every year.

 

Robert

[temke]

they are just trying to protect their ability to make money from merchandise. if you do not protect your trademark, you lose it to public domain.

 

many other colleges allow for the use of their logos with permission.

 

also, for the record the university of wisconsin athletic department receives $0 from the state. it all comes from ticket revenues and donors.

 

EDIT: the packers have the same thing happen to them also. i believe that UGA and grambling state have permission to use the log. i dont think heaven's gate had permission http://static.yuku.com//domainskins/bypass/img/smileys/tongue.gif

[Phenomenal Smith]

The point of trademark protection is to protect the consumer from confusion. So, how is someone who goes to see a high school football about 20 mile north of Houston going to get confused into thinking that he's seeing the Wisconsin Badgers?

 

What this boils down to is a shakedown operation. UW knows that high schools generally don't have the resources to fight this, so they're easy targets. And unless a high school is selling items that look like official UW merchandise, how is UW's commercial interest being threatened? The bottom line is that UW is acting like a bunch of mafia dons.

[Fatter than Joey]

UW knows that high schools generally don't have the resources to fight this, so they're easy targets. And unless a high school is selling items that look like official UW merchandise, how is UW's commercial interest being threatened? The bottom line is that UW is acting like a bunch of mafia dons.

 

No not really -- You can't pick and chose what infringers you go after. If you let a HS slide, then it makes it hard to go after bigger problems down the road.

[jwill535]

correct, the athletic department is fully self reliant thanks to Football. All athletics, scholies and travel are payed for by the department it self and from boosters. The academic portion and the athletic portion of the University are two seperate buisnesses. That always bothers me when people %@%#! about a player "taking" a scholie or slot away from another student or someone who would want to be there. The athletic department is given a specific amount of "open" slots in the admissions, meaning every year this many student athletes(non-walk ons) will be admitted which has no effect on the general population. Again scholies are paid for by the athletic department and boosters, not by the University.

 

As for the symbol, they do allow certain schools to use it for non-profit, I.E. symbols on uniforms and such. But once they start selling shirts and hats with the

"W" on it that is where the conflict happens. Oregon uses the Carolina Panthers symbol on they're football uniforms but the clothing has a different Panther symbol.

 

Oh and for people that dont realize this, the motion W is the symbol of the Football team and not the University. The University has its own symbol.

[temke]

correct, the athletic department is fully self reliant thanks to Football. All athletics, scholies and travel are payed for by the department it self and from boosters.

 

Oh and for people that dont realize this, the motion W is the symbol of the Football team and not the University. The University has its own symbol.

the motion w is part of the athletic department, not just the football team. many teams use it...it is on the basketball floor and the ice rink at the kohl center among many other places.

the basketball and hockey programs also help fund the department, but football does do a majority of the carrying.

 

there is actually a rather long pdf file on the uw athletic website concerning the uses of logos. it is somewhat interesting...i just cant find it right now.

[Phenomenal Smith]

UW knows that high schools generally don't have the resources to fight this, so they're easy targets. And unless a high school is selling items that look like official UW merchandise, how is UW's commercial interest being threatened? The bottom line is that UW is acting like a bunch of mafia dons.

 

No not really -- You can't pick and chose what infringers you go after. If you let a HS slide, then it makes it hard to go after bigger problems down the road.

Oh, really? Why then did UW intially agree to drop the matter and then started to pursue it again after two years? Look, yes you protect your - but you don't do it with a nuclear bomb.

 

[Phenomenal Smith]

From the article I initially cited:

The two sides continued discussions over the following months, and in on May 13, 2005, a legal representative of The University of Wisconsin backed away from the demand for a change.

"Based on your representation that Woodlands products bearing the stylized "W" at issue are not sold at retail, the university has determined that it will not pursue this matter further at this time," attorney Ben Griffiths wrote. "However, the University's strong preference remains for The Woodlands High School to transition to a new logo that is not virtually identical to the University's "Motion W" mark."

So, UW conceded that the high school wasn't selling merchandise with the vaunted stylized "W".

GO IOWA!!!!

[ReverendBrewmeister]

Oh, really? Why then did UW intially agree to drop the matter and then started to pursue it again after two years? Look, yes you protect your - but you don't do it with a nuclear bomb.

 

Hard to say why there was a change in their actions, but likely it was from legal advisors to do so. There has been a crackdown on such things, including the use of "Super Bowl" by entities outside of the NFL. Case in point was a church near Indianapolis given a cease-and-desist order when using "Super Bowl" promoting an activity. Seems that it was a get-together taking place during the "Big Game" or "Pro Football Championship Game" as some call the event on the first Sunday of February.

 

Living near Waukee, Iowa (about 15 miles away), this issue was in the news and affected public opinion. Wearing my UW shirt around, I've received comments from townspeople, even my congregational members, such as: "So, has your college finally stopped beating up on high schools?" or "You're 1-0 against Waukee, are you ready for the Hawkeyes?" etc.

 

However, something I also remember was walking into a Hy-Vee Grocery Store (local Iowa chain) in West Des Moines (which borders Waukee) and having the clerk ask where I got a Waukee High School windshirt in red-and-white, instead of purple-and-white (WHS colors). Now where could they have gotten that idea? Simple: the motion-W was connected to Waukee High School, rather than UW-Madison. That confusion, even from a 17-year-old grocery store checker, is what the university wants to keep from happening, as well as people using their trademark without compensation or approval.

 

While it seems like the "nuclear option," that's the only "choice" the legal system really gives UW, as far as I can tell.

 

Oh, and "Go Badgers!" (will make my Sunday morning a lot more enjoyable).

[Phenomenal Smith]

I don't think it was their only option at all. Apparently their legal team has nothing else to do.

[GAME05]

that happened at Platteville when I was there, they were apparently using the same "M" that Michigan had been using long before and we had to change the font of the letter on everything.

[TheBwaz]

I'm not an intellectual property attorney, but I did stay at a Holiday Inn Express last night.

 

Law like this is truly use it or lose it. Sure, they may have dropped things 2 years ago, but you need to do a periodic clearing of the decks. If you, as the mark holder, allow knowing use of your mark for an infringing purpose, you lose the ability to gripe when somebody else does it. Every so often they will wake up, look around, and clamp down.

 

Since I am sure Athletics makes a good amount of money from selling merchandise, they must protect the mark. Otherwise, folks are going to go into business selling action W shirts for $5-10 less than the University and there won't be a durn thing they can do about it.

 

EDIT: I will also add that if UW lawyers wrote that letter, your tax dollars are paying them no matter what they were doing. They probably had a spare moment from defending the University against tort suits brought by drunk students who fell in the Union. Seeing as defending the mark may help keep tuition down...well...

[dannyjnoonan]

Why isn't anyone being critical of this Woodlands High School for blatantly infringing on UW's trademark? Would it have been so hard for them to come up with a different looking "W"?

[jwill535]

from what i have heard, if that school goes to the UW and asks they generally let them use it as long as they don not sell clothing with the logo on it.

[RobertR]

Seems to me that this is more a problem with the law, as it's written, than with UW following it. UW really has no choice but to write "cease and desist" letters in these circumstances.

 

Robert

[berniebrewer4life]

from what i have heard, if that school goes to the UW and asks they generally let them use it as long as they don not sell clothing with the logo on it.

That's pretty much the way i have heard it too.

[ccbrew]

That's pretty much the way i have heard it too.

I thought it was pretty interesting when I saw it as well, so I bookmarked it:

UW Logo PDF

[PeaveyFury]

Why isn't anyone being critical of this Woodlands High School for blatantly infringing on UW's trademark? Would it have been so hard for them to come up with a different looking "W"?

 

No kidding. How DARE the University pursue proper legal recourse when someone is blatantly using their property inapropriately?

 

I think phenominalsmith is furthering an agenda, rather than making any sort of correct point.

[ccbrew]

"How the heck do you [trademark] a single letter anyway? At some point every "W" has to look somewhat like every other "W" or it loses its function."

 

http://i218.photobucket.com/albums/cc117/ccbrew/milwaukee-brewers.jpg

 

Whew, I'm glad that the morons at the Milwaukee Brewers Baseball Club decided to trademark this letter and will fight to protect it.

 

Edit: Quote

[Phenomenal Smith]

Why isn't anyone being critical of this Woodlands High School for blatantly infringing on UW's trademark? Would it have been so hard for them to come up with a different looking "W"?

That didn't "blatantly infringe". They just didn't have the cash to fight the U_ (since we are not allo_ed to use that letter) mafioso.

 

[PeaveyFury]

If it's not blatantly infringing, what is it?

 

IBTL.