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wookiee_borg t1_izfkczm wrote

Genuine Question - do the Ravens have a history of enforcing their trademarks locally? Because I feel like I’ve seen more than a few businesses with infringing names and trade dress, and I’ve never heard of any sort of takedown action by the team.

On the other hand, if the NFL decided to do a City Jersey promotion, like what the NBA does, they would insist that the Ravens have secured the permission or rights first. Because people will squat on trademarks to get a payout from an NFL team.

I’m just saying, as stewards of the trademark, there are many worse options than the Ravens.

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ChezBoris t1_izfnhld wrote

I am sorry, this utopian view is divorced from how things actually get done in the world. Essentially, one of the things that most IP lawyers will tell you (if you own a TM) is that you need to "police" your trademark to ensure it remains yours... effectively, you need to send and document cease and desist letters to anyone who infringes on your TM (and sue those who ignore it).

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wookiee_borg t1_izg8j4s wrote

And my question is…have the ravens done that? There’s a ravens electrical, bad birds everything, half the businesses use ravens colors as part of their trade dress…but I haven’t heard of the Ravens sending out cease and desist letters. Has anyone been stopped by the team for infringement? Everyone is bringing up the ‘Hon’ thing, but my recollection was that that business had been involved in multiple litigations before that application.

Also, the application seems pretty explicitly focused on football-oriented gear. Even if the items themselves are not football in nature, the application only applies to items used to promote a football team. So is there a Charm City semi-pro team that would be put out by this, or a business putting out faux Ravens gear using Charm City that they are targeting? I just don’t see this as a broad attack on the city’s identity.

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ChezBoris t1_izgtfjj wrote

I am certain they try keep most legal activity VERY quiet... You would almost never hear about a cease & desist letters. I don't know anywhere you could search for it.

I don't know where to look for trademark lawsuits and I am not in the mood to search through all the lawsuits that the Ravens have been involved in (I am sure almost all of them have nothing to do with any IP stuff).

But here's a list of Trademark applications that the Ravens have opposed/disputed (if you read it over a number of the oppositions were rejected by the US Trademark office... ie: example 1, example 2). This strongly suggests that in some of the legal filings are of the legal "asshole" nature.

However, the idea that we should rely on billion dollar corporations to be stewards of shared cultural "artifacts" really confuses me... and honestly just exposes how the intellectual property legal world is so deeply misaligned with the way I think things should work.

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