Posted on 01/29/2006 6:43:05 AM PST by texianyankee
The Seattle Seahawks are facing the Pittsburgh Steelers in the Super Bowl, but they have an off-the-field battle brewing with Texas A&M University.
School officials are upset with the Seahawks' use of the "12th Man" theme to recognize their fan support. A&M has legal claims to the "12th Man" moniker, a school tradition that dates to the 1920s.
The Seahawks have celebrated their fans as a "12th Man" since the 1980s, when they used to turn the now-demolished Kingdome into one of the NFL's loudest venues.
The team retired the No. 12 in 1984. Now, a No. 12 flag waves atop the city's signature Space Needle and the team has raised a "12th Man" banner at their new stadium, Qwest Field.
A&M's "12th Man" tradition started in 1922, when a student, E. King Gill, was called from the stands to suit up for the injury-depleted Aggies as they faced top-ranked Centre College. Gill never got in the game, but the Aggies won, 22-14.
The tradition has evolved into a campus-wide commitment to support the football team. Students stand for entire games at Kyle Field and while singing Saw Varsity's Horns Off after The Aggie War Hymn, they join arms and sway in unison, causing the stadium to literally shake.
A&M has twice registered trademarks for "The 12th Man" label - in 1990 and 1996 - that include entertainment services, "namely organizing and conducting intercollegiate sporting events," and products, such as caps, T-shirts, novelty buttons and jewelry.
Athletics director Bill Byrne said this week he's received e-mails from A&M supporters complaining about the Seahawks' "brazen use of the 12th Man theme at their home playoff games."
Byrne said A&M has contacted the Seahawks about the issue. He said he wrote the Chicago Bears and Buffalo Bills in the past about halting their 12th man themes once the university made them aware of the trademark registrations.
Byrne said Seattle, though, "has been slow-rolling us."
Lance Lopes, the Seahawks' vice president of corporate partnerships/legal affairs, told the Fort Worth Star-Telegram he would not comment on whether the team would meet A&M's request.
"I will say this," Lopes told the newspaper. "Our fans have been the folks that have run with the 12th man. It has not been the organization itself. We raise a flag with a 12 on it, it doesn't say 12th man or anything like that. We retired the jersey No. 12 many, many years ago, and we've always sort of kept it under that context.
"But, in terms of this whole 12th man derivative, if you will, that's occurred in the mass media and the public here locally. It has not been generated by the organization, per se."
But Steve Moore, A&M's chief marketing officer, said the school has seen Seahawks-themed "12th Man" merchandise and has no way to know whether the franchise itself is producing it.
The team's pro shop is sold out of No. 12 replica game jerseys and No. 12 flags and a fan Web site - SeaHawkers.org - offers downloadable computer desktop wallpaper that reads: "At Home We are the 12th Man" and "On the Road We are the 12th Man."
"In the normal course of action, once someone becomes aware of it and they understand that you have a registered trademark, normally they cease," said Steve Moore, A&M's chief marketing officer. "In this case, they have chosen not to, but we are still hopeful that they will, quite frankly."
The university's last resort is to take the Seahawks to court, but Moore said A&M is not prepared to do that yet.
"What we hope is that the normal course of action will work, and that they'll choose to recognize our ownership of the trademark," he said.
The Seahawks are going to have about 12 fans in the stands in Ford Field, the rest will be Steeler fans.
Have it your way. ;-)
We'll see how this plays out, but as an attorney my opinion is that A&M has a much stronger case than you currently understand.
Trademarks have to be vigorously defended, however, or they fall into the public domain. That is why corporations have to play hardball with mom and pop stores, high schools and charities when their trademarked slogan is borrowed by someone else.
Coca Cola has tried to do this with the trademarked term "Coke". In the south and other places, "Coke" has become a generic term for all soft drinks, but (AFIK) Coca Cola still defends any usage of the term for commerical or advertising reasons.
The term 12th man is very generic and has been used by every high school and college in America - maybe not to the level that A&M has used it, but still it is very commonplace. As far as I know, A&M has not vigorously defended this term when high schools and colleges have used it. If they haven't then a court challenge by them would probably result in them losing the trademark altogether.
Something has really happened to A&M the last few years. I used to really like them, but lately they seem to exhibiting really bizarre behavior.
To add to my previous point, it is important to note that according to the Seahawks, it is the fans and the media and the not organization itself that are off and running with the "12th man" concept.
If A&M wants to sue the fans for trademark infringement (which is certainly not beyond them in their current state) then they can have it. Suing the organization (if the Seahwawks are being honest) seems to be pointless.
That's why this whole thing is so stupid. It's a civil matter, they have to serve Seattle with notice and demand.
Seattle front office types up a memo telling everybody in the organization to not use the term "12th man". They can use 12th player, 12th mvp, 12th guy on the bench, whatever.
They could still sell Jerseys with the number 12 on it.
Problem solved. Except for the ill will generated because of A&M's strongarm tactics. They would get alot more respect if, for instance they picked the Seahawks in the game, and then pulled their legal shenanigans after the SB.
I don't know about the Texas situation, but A&M should have waited until after the superbowl. Their timing stinks and makes them look silly.
A trademark must be vigorously defended in order to remain valid which is why Paul McCartney defended his. A trademark holder cannot selectively defend the trademark or it will be vacated. As I said in an earlier post, that is why corporations have to go after mom and pop stores, churches, charities and high schools.
If a Coke didn't defend its trademark against the any churches or charities using it's trademark then it couldn't defend it against Pepsi either.
It is questionable if A&M has actually defended its trademark in this way.
I am having trouble understanding how a non profit can even get a Trademark.
I don't think the school itself has the trademark. I could be wrong, but I think that it belongs to the Athletic Association which is possibly "for profit".
In college sports it can be hard to figure out who actually owns what. At the University of Georgia last year, there was a turf war between the University of Georgia Foundation and the school itself. Most of the university trustees were also board members of the foundation so it was hard to figure out exactly who ran the school or the athletic program.
The aggies would still be pathetic with 12 men ON the field. My take, some Texan's trying to get in to Paul Allen's wallet.
When I watched Seattles 10:00 O'clock KONG News coverage of this Friday I could not believe the subliminal Message I heard. As they were reporting on the story, they were showing clips of Seahawk fans, in #12 jerseys and such, but while they were doing this you could hear very quickly and softly a girls voice say, "If you are from Texas you are a liar" I turned to my wife and said, did you hear that? It seemed to be a subliminal slam against Bush to me.
Has Texas A&M copyrighted "the 12th Man"? If not, seems like A&M has no case.
...A&M has twice registered trademarks for "The 12th Man" label - in 1990 and 1996 - that include entertainment services, "namely organizing and conducting intercollegiate sporting events," and products, such as caps, T-shirts, novelty buttons and jewelry.
The reason is that they know Texas A&M would lose.
Seattle was using and publicizing the 12th man phrase at least a decade before A&M tried to legally claim the phrase. Even if they have a legally protectable phrase (which is doubtful), they can't stop someone who was already using the phrase long before they filed their claim.
Furthermore, Seattle continued to make liberal use of the phrase after A&M tried to protect it as well. So even if A&M has legal merit to their claim to a legally protected phrase, failure to enforce those rights in the past means they've lost those rights at least vis a vis Seattle.
The final kicker, of course, is that the owner of the Seahawks is the multi-gazillionaire Paul Allen. A&M won't scare him off just because he has to pay a few lawyers.
Sorry guys, A&M loses, Seattle wins. In fact, it's not even close.
Should be a fun game. I was predicting Seattle wins 34-10 (or 34-17, depending on how much coffee I just drank...). But when someone pointed out how strong both defenses are I had to change my tune.
So now I'm going with Seattle, 27-7. (I'm leaving room for the Steelers to get a garbage touchdown in the 4th quarter.)
The Aggies tradition of the 12th man goes back to 1922. little research would have shown that.
I have nothing against Seattle, but if they had any class at all, they would have come to an agreement with the Aggies on this one. Tradition means a lot to a lot of people, especially the Aggies.
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