Tebow trademarks kneeling on one knee and fake praying

[Fish]

If anything, this just goes to show you how absurd the patent and trademarking process has become in the US. Sometime in the future, we're going to see a complete collapse of this type of thing. The advance of technology, and the unenforceable nature of patents and trademarks is going to eventually completely dismantle the entire system. Globalization of technology means that other countries simply laugh at our notion that we control or own words and ideas. It's simply not a sustainable or enforceable system.

The fact that Americans think they can claim ownership of something as ridiculous and unimportant as a touchdown celebration is laughable. Just as the MPAA and RIAA are completely helpless to enforce protection of their IP throughout the world, so to will the time come for the same to happen to US patents and trademarks.

[DRU]

Originally Posted by KC Fish

If anything, this just goes to show you how absurd the patent and trademarking process has become in the US. Sometime in the future, we're going to see a complete collapse of this type of thing. The advance of technology, and the unenforceable nature of patents and trademarks is going to eventually completely dismantle the entire system. Globalization of technology means that other countries simply laugh at our notion that we control or own words and ideas. It's simply not a sustainable or enforceable system.

The fact that Americans think they can claim ownership of something as ridiculous and unimportant as a touchdown celebration is laughable. Just as the MPAA and RIAA are completely helpless to enforce protection of their IP throughout the world, so to will the time come for the same to happen to US patents and trademarks.

Your problem is you're seeing this as just a TD celebration. It's become a lot more than that.

Let's get completely hypothetical here, and take a look at this...



Let's imagine that became a national craze and everybody was running around "Priesting" to the point where as soon as you saw a silhouette of that image or you heard the term Priesting people immediately associate it with Priest Holmes himself. Then imagine people starting buying domain names like priesting.com with his image and were selling merchandise with his image and name on it. The public could very easily start to think that anywhere they saw that image or heard that term, Priest Holmes must be involved.

His people would do exactly the same thing, and I would bet you wouldn't care nearly as much. Again, you're not talking any shit on Jordan for doing the same thing, and you don't seem to care that our country allowed him to do that long before technology was so heavily embedded in our lives.

The Trademark and Patent office isn't going to let just anybody trademark their TD move. It's not just some free for all for anybody to trademark anything they want. This is a completely valid use of trademark law.

Get over it.

[Fish]

Originally Posted by DRU

Your problem is you're seeing this as just a TD celebration. It's become a lot more than that.

Let's get completely hypothetical here, and take a look at this...



Let's imagine that became a national craze and everybody was running around "Priesting" to the point where as soon as you saw a silhouette of that image or you heard the term Priesting people immediately associate it with Priest Holmes himself.

See that's part of the problem. "National crazes" are not necessary to protect. It serves no purpose. And it can't be effectively done anyway.

[DRU]

Originally Posted by KC Fish

See that's part of the problem. "National crazes" are not necessary to protect. It serves no purpose. And it can't be effectively done anyway.

When people are using your name and image however they please, and the vast majority of the public associates that name and image with an exact person or corporation, that person/corp has every right to protect themselves from public confusion by protecting that mark. That's exactly what trademarks are for.

I deal with this stuff all the time, and I've spent thousands of dollars for attorney's to fight IP battles for me. I've learned a lot in the process. This is a pretty straight forward case.

If you're so bothered by it, you could always file a dispute with the Trademark and Patent office. It was officially granted on 10/9 and the public has 30 days from that time to dispute the validity of the trademark.

So, seriously. If you disagree, file a dispute and see if you can block him from completing his trademark application for good.

[Fish]

Originally Posted by DRU

When people are using your name and image however they please, and the vast majority of the public associates that name and image with an exact person or corporation, that person/corp has every right to protect themselves from public confusion by protecting that mark. That's exactly what trademarks are for.

I deal with this stuff all the time, and I've spent thousands of dollars for attorney's to fight IP battles for me. I've learned a lot in the process. This is a pretty straight forward case.

If you're so bothered by it, you could always file a dispute with the Trademark and Patent office. It was officially granted on 10/9 and the public has 30 days from that time to dispute the validity of the trademark.

So, seriously. If you disagree, file a dispute and see if you can block him from completing his trademark application for good.

It's not the government's job to protect people from confusion. It's also not the government's job to protect famous people's public image. Which is exactly what's happening in this case.

The USPTO stifles innovation, causes more confusion than it prevents, and costs manufacturers millions of unnecessary dollars. They can **** themselves.

[DRU]

Originally Posted by KC Fish

It's not the government's job to protect people from confusion. It's also not the government's job to protect famous people's public image. Which is exactly what's happening in this case.

The USPTO stifles innovation, causes more confusion than it prevents, and costs manufacturers millions of unnecessary dollars. They can **** themselves.

Oh, of course, now it's the government that sucks. Tebow sucks for following the rules, America sucks for making those rules, and everything and everybody is just a big pile of dog shit because we're not all millionaires.

I've got an idea. Instead of wearing black to the Bengals game we should just all join together and kill ourselves. This world isn't good enough for us to live in if sports figures can trademark their marks.

Do you run your own business, by chance? If so, may I ask what your company is called and what you do?

[Fish]

Originally Posted by DRU

Oh, of course, now it's the government that sucks. Tebow sucks for following the rules, America sucks for making those rules, and everything and everybody is just a big pile of dog shit because we're not all millionaires.

I've got an idea. Instead of wearing black to the Bengals game we should just all join together and kill ourselves. This world isn't good enough for us to live in if sports figures can trademark their marks.

Do you run your own business, by chance? If so, may I ask what your company is called and what you do?

It's always been the government's fault. I haven't argued otherwise. I'm in favor of the abolition of the majority of intellectual property rights. I've stated that long before this Tebow nonsense. The costs and complications of IP rights don't justify the benefits. And the fact that it's ineffective the majority of the time doesn't help the argument.

I just don't think it's necessary for people to pay the government to try and protect their reputation with regards to touchdown poses. It's the absurd end of the spectrum which should be a red flag that something is wrong with the system.