How do you get so big, and so powerful, that you can tell other big and powerful organizations what they can and can’t say—and prohibit them from using very commonly used words and phrases? The Olympic Committee’s ban on non-sponsor brands ostensibly does just that as ESPN recently reported. They’re even banning non-sponsors from using the hashtags #Rio2016 and #TeamUSA. (Sheesh; hope I don’t get in trouble for that—I’m not an official sponsor, after all.) Those aren’t the only usages that are being banned though. According to a Mashable article, other banned words include “Rio” and “Rio de Janeiro.” Huh? (more…)
Posts Tagged ‘trademark’
Clever Name Conveys Message Without Violating Trademark
Thursday, September 13th, 2012Speaking of names…sometimes I’m struck by what appear to be brilliant solutions to vexing problems and I came across such an example recently when I heard of a company called ‘Preneur.
What struck me is that I recall, not long ago, a big brouhaha over the magazine Entrepreneur and its successful fight to protect its name through trademark even though most of us would agree that the word “entrepreneur” (more…)