21MadFan Posted May 10, 2012 Share Posted May 10, 2012 Didn't see this posted any where. http://www.nfl.com/news/story/09000d5d828f94be/article/rg3-trademarks-name-unbelievably-believable-tag By Marc Sessler NFL.comWriter Published: May 9, 2012 at 02:57 p.m.Updated: May 9, 2012 at 05:03 p.m. There's no lack of gushing over the potential greatness of Robert Griffin III. When the rookie quarterback speaks, he entertains. RG3 is affable and self-deprecating, yet seemingly aware of the decades-long void he's being asked to fill as the starting passer of the Washington Redskins. Our nation's capital clearly believes in the young man, and we're gaining a sense of just how confident Griffin is about his own success: Confident enough to trademark himself. Following the draft, RG3 hired an attorney and generated an LLC, entitled "Thr3escompany." (Tough break, Mr. Roper.) The former Baylor quarterback also filed trademark applications for "RGIII," "RG3," "Robert Griffin III" and the phrase "Unbelievably Believable," according to USA TODAY. There's wisdom to this: It prevents mom-and-pop shops and street vendors from using the RG3 brand on gear outside FedEx Field and beyond. No word on any pending Kirk Cousins trademarks -- probably right around the corner. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Koolblue13 Posted May 10, 2012 Share Posted May 10, 2012 It's a smart move by a smart kid. I'd assume it was his handlers ideas. I saw a sneaker commercial with him in it today. I don't think he'll get caught up in the fame. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Burgold Posted May 10, 2012 Share Posted May 10, 2012 One more sign that he is savvy. I don't mind that he is already thinking about the business aspects of his career. Mind you, it's a little early to celebrate him yet, but I'm sure that as far as merchandizing goes, there are a lot of folks hungry for his jersey. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Califan007 The Constipated Posted May 10, 2012 Share Posted May 10, 2012 I imagine this sets up all sorts of questions... - Do the Skins have to buy the rights to sell any merchandise with "RG3" or the other versions of his name? What if he refuses? - What happens when there are other "Robert Griffin III's" in the league? - He didn't coin the nickname "RG3"...can he still trademark the name without the guy who did come up with the nickname's approval? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Burgold Posted May 10, 2012 Share Posted May 10, 2012 The last is the easiest. It isn't necessarily the guy who invents the machine, it's the guy who gets to the patent office first. Best example, there were lots of people working on the steam engine. The guy credited as its inventor was not the first one to build one and make it work. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SWFLSkins Posted May 10, 2012 Share Posted May 10, 2012 The last is the easiest. It isn't necessarily the guy who invents the machine, it's the guy who gets to the patent office first. Best example, there were lots of people working on the steam engine. The guy credited as its inventor was not the first one to build one and make it work. Edison with his patent leading triumph is testament to this fact. You really think he invented all those things? Or did he just fund guys with great ideas and then take credit? How can someone else coin RG3 as their own, very tough to prove and also what damage was done to them. I mean is he famous, is he an RG3 being hurt by this move? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Koolblue13 Posted May 10, 2012 Share Posted May 10, 2012 This is unbelievably believable. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr. S Posted May 10, 2012 Share Posted May 10, 2012 I'm not an Intellectual Property attorney, but I would think he wouldn't get trademarks for any of those unless it was part of some overall logo. Those letters and words are just too common, and also the likelihood of other people named Robert Griffin, including one of his former linemen at Baylor. I guess if he can prove that he would suffer damages due to people using his name for commercial reasons, it was worth at least attempting to trademark some of these things. Seems he would do better off with a logo or image with those letters/words, then people could tell an original from a fake and he could pursue charges faster. Creating that company name and whatnot does make sense though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SWFLSkins Posted May 10, 2012 Share Posted May 10, 2012 This is unbelievably believable. hahhaa, lol. I like KB, I think it is really a show of where we are business wise and I doubt this makes China stop making knockoffs RG3 everything. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hubbs Posted May 10, 2012 Share Posted May 10, 2012 I must have missed this, what do RG3 and "unbelievably believable" have to do with each other? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Califan007 The Constipated Posted May 10, 2012 Share Posted May 10, 2012 The last is the easiest. It isn't necessarily the guy who invents the machine, it's the guy who gets to the patent office first. Best example, there were lots of people working on the steam engine. The guy credited as its inventor was not the first one to build one and make it work. Well, patents and trademarks are a bit different. Trademark laws aren't as restrictive and others can still earn $$$ marketing the guy, but it would be hard to market Griffin without using "RG3", "RGIII" or his full name. And in your example, all the guys were working on a steam engine...the inventor who got the patent would have patented his own work or the work of his company, not patented someone else's work. A more direct correlation would be if a lot of guys were trying to "invent" a cool nickname for Griffin, and one guy came up with "RG3"...and then Griffin took that nickname and patented it. Because the nickname IS him, it's a bit different, of course...I just wondered if the guy who did come up with the nickname has any recourse if he wanted to claim he should have the rights to it, and not Griffin. Griffin may have already talked to the guy before trademarketing "RG3" for all we know, though... Can you imagine if Snyder did this? lol...If Snyder trademarked "RG3" and the weatherman (or whoever he was) who came up with it later claimed that he should have the rights to it, all hell would rain down on Snyder and his "greedy" ways in the media, and 90% of the fans here would side with the weatherman. ---------- Post added May-10th-2012 at 05:19 AM ---------- Ok, just did some research...it almost seems as if RG3 trademarked all that stuff in advance of having his own line of merchandise. A trademark is a word, name, symbol or device which is used in trade with goods to indicate the source of the goods and to distinguish them from the goods of others. A servicemark is the same as a trademark except that it identifies and distinguishes the source of a service rather than a product. The terms "trademark" and "mark" are commonly used to refer to both trademarks and servicemarks.Trademark rights may be used to prevent others from using a confusingly similar mark, but not to prevent others from making the same goods or from selling the same goods or services under a clearly different mark. The purpose of a trademark is to protect words, phrases and logos used in federally regulated commerce to identify the source of goods and/or services. If you are interested in protecting a title, slogan, or other short word phrase, generally you want a trademark. Copyright law does not protect a bare phrase, slogan, or trade name. For trademark, the filing fee is more substantial, the time to obtain registration is much longer, and examination by the Trademark Office includes a substantive review of potentially conflicting marks which are found to be confusingly similar. While copyright registration is primarily an administrative process, trademark registration is very much an adversarial process. When it comes to copyright v. trademark, we get more questions about clothing than anything else. Here are a few guidelines:Anything you silk screen or otherwise display prominently on the front or back of a shirt, top, cap or hat is generally considered artwork, and therefore covered by copyright. In fact, if you send a photo of a clothing item to the U.S. Trademark Office showing your design, logo or slogan prominently displayed on the front or back, they will refuse to register it as a trademark. To qualify as a trademark, your logo or slogan must be used as the brand of the clothing item itself. In other words, your logo or slogan must be used the way clothing brands are typically used and displayed on clothing, namely, sewn into a waistband, collar, hem or pocket, or applied to a label, sticker or tag, and NOT in a way that dominates the appearance of the clothing item. The only way to protect a name, word, short phrase or other text, is to register it as a trademark. But this means that you have to change the way you use the mark from an artistic display to a brand name usage. http://www.lawmart.com/forms/difference.htm Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Boss_Hogg Posted May 10, 2012 Share Posted May 10, 2012 Nothing wrong with this, many athletes have trademarked merchandise. I'm waiting for the "RG3 is selfish and conceited" posters. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HogNose Posted May 10, 2012 Share Posted May 10, 2012 I would expect The Renfrew Group to be contacted in the near future with an offer. http://www.rg3.com/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
redskindan07 Posted May 10, 2012 Share Posted May 10, 2012 Good move on his part Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pjfootballer Posted May 10, 2012 Share Posted May 10, 2012 Great, he forgot, "no pressure, no diamonds." I'm headed to the patent office now. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mocountyskins Posted May 10, 2012 Share Posted May 10, 2012 Nothing wrong with this, many athletes have trademarked merchandise. I'm waiting for the "RG3 is selfish and conceited" posters. . HE Fooled us all now we know for sure that he is Ryan leaf 2.0 with a mix of haynesworth and a touch of Ted bundy!!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lanceman_1 Posted May 10, 2012 Share Posted May 10, 2012 All of the .com rg3 names are gone also.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chanhillbilly Posted May 10, 2012 Share Posted May 10, 2012 When I saw this the first thing that came into my mind was Brian Bosworth trademarking '55'. Then the vision of Bo Jackson putting one foot on his chest and one on his facemask when he ran him over. Robert better live up to the hype and should. He is a smart kid. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WellsHTTR Posted May 10, 2012 Share Posted May 10, 2012 I'm still waiting for Adidas to issue some "Go Catch Your Dream" socks. Alas, until then, I guess these Superman socks will have to do: http://store.redskins.com/cart.php?m=product_detail&p=8273&catID=617 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AKM311 Posted May 10, 2012 Share Posted May 10, 2012 Great, now we will have QB #10 in Madden/Video games instead of his name. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Conn Posted May 10, 2012 Share Posted May 10, 2012 Great, now we will have QB #10 in Madden/Video games instead of his name. He's going to be one of the best Madden rookies of all time, and he's already commented on how flattered he is by that. I'm sure he'll let them use his name. I always wondered about Belichick not being in the game, being "NE Coach". What's funny is I popped my '07 PS2 Madden in the other day to play with the team I grew up with, and Belichick is in the game...but the Giants HC isn't. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RiggosMohawk Posted May 10, 2012 Share Posted May 10, 2012 Great, now we will have QB #10 in Madden/Video games instead of his name. Wasn't this actually from the NFLPA (or whatever the union was called at the time), and those guys not giving likeness rights for use? And correct me if I'm wrong, but didnt Lavar do this (i.e. opt out) also? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sweet Sassy Molassy Posted May 10, 2012 Share Posted May 10, 2012 A much better, informed and more detailed read about this move can be found here: http://changelegal.com/2012/05/09/robert-griffin-iii-a-perfect-example-of-proactively-protecting-intellectual-property/ Regarding the "Unbelievably Believable" thing was something he said during his Heisman acceptance speech. Also here's a quick blurb about how he intends to use it: Griffin’s filing for “unbelievably believable” is a bit different than the previous three filings. He hopes to use the phrase for “promoting the goods and services of others, sponsorship of sports and athletic events and activities.” Seems like he plans to use that in a charitable or inspirational capacity. Anyway, this is an extremely astute move for Robert and shows just how smart he really is. Not a lot of people (at any age) would be knowledgable enough to protect their name and likeness in this manner. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
terpskins10 Posted May 10, 2012 Share Posted May 10, 2012 And correct me if I'm wrong, but didnt Lavar do this (i.e. opt out) also? Ah, good ol' ROLB #57. For a while, they didn't even use his correct number. lol Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AKM311 Posted May 10, 2012 Share Posted May 10, 2012 Wasn't this actually from the NFLPA (or whatever the union was called at the time), and those guys not giving likeness rights for use?And correct me if I'm wrong, but didnt Lavar do this (i.e. opt out) also? Correct this is what Lavar did. He trademarked his name and wanted profits from all Video Games using his name. So his name was LB 56. Hoping RG3 allows them to use his name. ---------- Post added May-10th-2012 at 07:19 PM ---------- Ah, good ol' ROLB #57. For a while, they didn't even use his correct number. lol Oh man, you are right. It was 57. Not 56. HAHA Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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