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Who owns 'Who Dey'?


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[b][size="5"][color="#000000"]Who owns 'Who Dey'?[/color][/size][/b]
February, 1, 2010 By James Walker

The NFL and New Orleans Saints are in the middle of [url="http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/playoffs/2009/news/story?id=4871697"][color="#608fd6"]an interesting legal battle[/color][/url] for the past week on who owns the trademark to "Who Dat?" The Saints claim it's their slogan, while the league believes its use falls under the NFL shield.

Would the same thing happen to the Cincinnati Bengals?

Cincinnati made the playoffs this season but fell short of the Super Bowl. But if the Bengals did make it to the big game, the "Who Dey" slogan similarly would be everywhere on T-shirts and other merchandise.

Last week we went into [url="http://espn.go.com/blog/afcnorth/post/_/id/8930/are-saints-copying-the-bengals"][color="#608fd6"]the history of both chants[/color][/url] for the Saints and Bengals, and it's clear that the NFL did not invent either term. Still, the league says it wants to stop any use of the slogan when it's in conjunction with the Saints' NFL logo.

In all likelihood the NFL and New Orleans soon will reach a final ruling on the "Who Dat?" slogan. That should set a precedent for the Bengals and their trademark rights to "Who Dey" in the future.





[url="http://espn.go.com/blog/afcnorth/post/_/id/9161/who-owns-who-dey"]http://espn.go.com/blog/afcnorth/post/_/id/9161/who-owns-who-dey[/url]
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[quote name='gatorclaws' date='01 February 2010 - 11:08 AM' timestamp='1265040530' post='861033']
The NFL isn't claiming ownership of "Who Dat", they're claiming ownership of the color scheme and things like that people are using to make illegal saints shirts for profit.
[/quote]


That's correct, and if I remember correctly, they have to make the legal claims or risk losing control of their trademarked art work in the future.
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[quote name='oldschooler' date='01 February 2010 - 04:52 PM' timestamp='1265061160' post='861078']
Didn't the Bengals make Go stop selling his Go-Bengals shirts
that just said WHO DEY on them? There was no Bengal Logo on them.
[/quote]

But they were obviously being sold as Bengals shirts with the Bengals color scheme, which is what they had the problem with I think. The NFL doesn't want other people profiting off their product.
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[quote name='oldschooler' date='01 February 2010 - 04:52 PM' timestamp='1265061160' post='861078']
Didn't the Bengals make Go stop selling his Go-Bengals shirts
that just said WHO DEY on them? There was no Bengal Logo on them.
[/quote]

I think some of had Cincinnati Bengals on them if I wasn't lazy I would walk up stairs and look :schla15:

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[quote name='gatorclaws' date='01 February 2010 - 04:22 PM' timestamp='1265062958' post='861080']
But they were obviously being sold as Bengals shirts with the Bengals color scheme, which is what they had the problem with I think. The NFL doesn't want other people profiting off their product.
[/quote]



So they own the colors too?

And any fan site that sells ad space could be seen as profiting off their product.

[quote name='RayDoggBengal' date='01 February 2010 - 04:26 PM' timestamp='1265063180' post='861081']
I think some of had Cincinnati Bengals on them if I wasn't lazy I would walk up stairs and look [img]http://forum.go-bengals.com/public/style_emoticons/default/schla15.gif[/img]
[/quote]


Mine just says WHO DEY with GO-BENGALS.COM in little letters underneath.
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[quote name='oldschooler' date='01 February 2010 - 05:33 PM' timestamp='1265063623' post='861083']
So they own the colors too?

And any fan site that sells ad space could be seen as profiting off their product.

[/quote]

I think they have a copyright on the color schemes... not sure how that works though. I believe they technically could view fans sites that way, but they generally don't care about people just supporting and talking about the team. Forums don't usually make a profit.

It's people that make shirts/products that bothers them, because the buyers are then less likely to buy the official products.
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[quote name='gatorclaws' date='01 February 2010 - 05:22 PM' timestamp='1265062958' post='861080']
But they were obviously being sold as Bengals shirts with the Bengals color scheme, which is what they had the problem with I think. The NFL doesn't want other people profiting off their product.
[/quote]

no the words WHO DEY are owned by the bengals and nfl properties.. i still have my threatening letter from them.

:Harassment_emoticon:

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[quote name='gatorclaws' date='01 February 2010 - 05:39 PM' timestamp='1265063979' post='861084']
I think they have a copyright on the color schemes... not sure how that works though. I believe they technically could view fans sites that way, but they generally don't care about people just supporting and talking about the team. Forums don't usually make a profit.

It's people that make shirts/products that bothers them, because the buyers are then less likely to buy the official products.
[/quote]

unless they create their own color of orange, which they dont its just a normal pantone shade of orange, you cant own a color really, and no knock off people are even bothering using the pantone color, just eyeballing it, you cant use the logos or owned sayings/chants/slogans, etc.. stripes they are in the B and things like that too, thats why i made my own stripes by stealing them and altering them fair and square from a random tiger website... :on_the_quiet:

the word "Bengals" they can stop me from using if they want... but i could switch to my other domain, bengalcity.com and have no issues, but bengalScity.com would be a potential issue..

as mentioned tho they dont care unless you're profiting from the misuse..

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