WWE Files A Very Interesting Trademark

[Mole 0]

Umm, it isn't happening.

 

Besides, I'm used to WWE by now anyway.

[Guest JMA]

Couldn't Vince just offer to promote the hell out of WWF (the Panda one) in exchange for getting the right to use "WWF" again? Granted, that would be confusing, but they could make it a promotional tactic.

[reign 0]

I am just completely shocked that for the last three years "World Wrestling Federation" hasn't been trademarked...I mean how much would Vince have paid to some mark who owned the rights to that name?

[RavishingRickRudo 0]

Which makes "Renewed the Trademark" sound like a reasonable answer, right?

 

RRR: Wondering how many people has him on ignore.

[Slickster 0]

Please God let it be so. I have always thought WWE sounded incredibly lame. I think what they should do is simply do a technicality and have the announcers call it the "World Wrestling Federation" and beep out "WWF" if necessary (much like on 24/7).

They beep it out? Awesome. This is for the Fucking Intercontinental Championship.

 

 

They don't beep it, they usually mute it so it's like the " for the [crowd noise] Intercontinental Championship!"

 

Oh, and if you actually checked the trademark search engine, the WWE has had the 'World Wrestling Federation' name trademarked for a while.

 

Word Mark WORLD WRESTLING FEDERATION

Goods and Services IC 041. US 107. G & S: Entertainment Services-Namely, Provision of Sporting Events Such as Wrestling Exhibitions for Television. FIRST USE: 19830200. FIRST USE IN COMMERCE: 19830200

Mark Drawing Code (1) TYPED DRAWING

Design Search Code

Serial Number 73428666

Filing Date June 3, 1983

Current Filing Basis 1A

Original Filing Basis 1A

Published for Opposition November 20, 1984

Registration Number 1317318

Registration Date January 29, 1985

 

They also reserved it in '89 for everything from towels to board games to watches, but also including

IC 009. US 021 026 036 038. G & S: PHONOGRAPH RECORDS, PRERECORDED AUDIO AND VIDEO CASSETTES, SWITCH PLATES, COMPUTER PROGRAMS CONCERNING THE SPORT OF WRESTLING. FIRST USE: 19850400. FIRST USE IN COMMERCE: 19850400

 

I think they did this because the 1985 and 1989 trademark filings only deal with television and home video, while the new trademark filing allows them to use the 'World Wrestling Federation' name in promoting webcasts and DVDs. Technically, one could have sold 'World Wrestling Federation' DVDs until this new trademark was approved.

[RavishingRickRudo 0]

Like I said, they have to renew the Trademark every 10 years. That this one was originally trademarked in 1985, and that this is 2005, sorta suggests that's why they did it. The updated trademark extended to various digital media because it wasn't relevant in 1995 because that sorta thing either didn't exist or wasn't prevalent.

[David Blazenwing 0]

Shh. Don't ruin all our dreams. WWF IS returning! IT IS!

 

*rocks back and forth in corner*

[Enigma 0]

It's pretty sad, because if you take a couple Joe Blows off the street now, almost 4 years after the name change, and ask them what they think of when they hear "WWF", they'll say wrestling.

[RavishingRickRudo 0]

Well, 20 years from now ask a 20 year old...

[Guest Thrashist]

To this day after all of this WWF controversy, I still don't understand what the World Wildlife Fund does exactly. Like I get the save the animals schtick panda bear etc but what is a day in the life of the WWF really? Like what do they do aside the generic "help preserve the environment"?

 

Also, I read that they changed their name to the World Wildlife Fund for Nature in 86 in all countries except US and Canada. But aren't these the two countries that were allowed to have the World Wrestling Federation as WWF? Like if the deal was not to use the initials WWF outside the US/Canada, wouldn't the animal company change their name to World Wildlife Fund for Nature only in North America?

 

And as 'genius' of a businessman people claim Vince is, losing the WWF name may in fact be one of the dumbest moves ever. Sure, it may not have had the greatest actual effect, but how exactly can a company exist for that long, become so big, and then say "oh by the way, I don't really own this name". It just defies common sense.

[Si82 0]

If Vince encloses a very genuine, heartfelt, apologetic letter to go along with it, perhaps a "$10-15 million dollar donation" would suffice.

Like Vince McMahon would ever apologise. After all, he's Vince McMahon dammit!

 

I don't understand why people are going nuts over WWE renewing the trademark on "World Wrestling Federation". As RRR has said, they need to renew their trademarks every so often. This isn't going to change anything.

[Prime Time Andrew Doyle 0]

Here is something somewhat on topic, here is the judgment in the WWF v. WWF cases

 

The Fund v. The Federation

 

Also, you might wanna check out Worldlii and search under WWF, World Wrestling Federation, Titan Sports. It is interesting to see what legal situations they have been invovled in

 

Edit: After reading through the judgement, the 'Es lawyers must have sucked utter and complete ass. The issues on the change from Block to scratch logo would be easy to change, and the issue over Injurious association should have been easier to prove.

Edited December 6, 2005 by Prime Time Andrew Doyle

[dubq 0]

I think there's a problem with this. Do a lot of casual/mark/younger fans even KNOW what the word Federation means? Would there even be a point to it? Or would it result in blatant misuse of the word, much like how "brand" was butchered post-roster split?

[Promoter 0]

Well, in a perfect world I bet Vince would like to use World Wrestling Federation again and just omit the initials. He has RAW with the original titles of the wwf. Over on smackdown he has The E titles.

 

Now going into fantasy booking World Wrestling Federation and World Wrestling Entertainment as two brands is much better than RAW and Smackdown. The power is back on RAW with the old World Wrestling Federation and smackdown would represent the Entertainment vision and would be WWE. WWF can represent the tradition of the company and WWE can represent the "entertainment" (action adventure) vision they seem to be shoving down our throats. This would really create two distinct brands. Of course, I'm dreaming.

[nl5xsk1 0]

It's pretty sad, because if you take a couple Joe Blows off the street now, almost 4 years after the name change, and ask them what they think of when they hear "WWF", they'll say wrestling.

 

I wouldn't say it's sad ... why would the mainstream public give a crap about the name change? I mean, I still call it the WWF when talking to non-fans ... of course, I still call the California Angels by that name, even though they've changed 'hometowns' twice now.

 

At this point, 'WWF' is just synonymous with professional wrestling. People use that to describe anything wrestling related, even TNA or WCW.

[Astro7x 0]

Wasn't one of the main issues the website, yet the Fund doesn't even use WWF.com... they use worldwildlife.org

[Enigma 0]

Wasn't one of the main issues the website, yet the Fund doesn't even use WWF.com... they use worldwildlife.org

I remember the one of the Fund's first statements against WWF.Com. It went something like:

 

"Children expecting to log on to our organization's website to find out information about wildlife could mistakenly run into a site peddling 'Debra's Puppies'".

[dubq 0]

Non-profit agencies rarely use .com domains.

[King Cucaracha 0]

To buy the initials, I can't see WWF letting them go for under 1 billion dollars.

 

[Markme123 0]

Non-profit agencies rarely use .com domains.

 

but the kid doesnt know this. Just like the whole whitehouse.com/whitehouse.org thing i remember from a few years ago.

[David Blazenwing 0]

What kid is going to log on to World Wildlife Fund? Really? Probably a kid who NEEDS some exposure to Debra's puppies.

[dubq 0]

Do you live in a trailor park, David?

[reign 0]

Amidst all this talk of WWE reclaiming the WWF namesake...the "REAL" WWF decides to just "discover" a new speices of carnivore...they beat you again Vince......

[The Amazing Rando 0]

Amidst all this talk of WWE reclaiming the WWF namesake...the "REAL" WWF decides to just "discover" a new speices of carnivore...they beat you again Vince......

 

...and that new carnivore will face... KAAAAAAAAAANE~!

[Jericholic82 0]

If they can still use the wwf initials in the us and canada, then why are we still getting edited dvds and such?

[Jericholic82 0]

Here is something somewhat on topic, here is the judgment in the WWF v. WWF cases

 

The Fund v. The Federation

 

Also, you might wanna check out Worldlii and search under WWF, World Wrestling Federation, Titan Sports. It is interesting to see what legal situations they have been invovled in

 

Edit: After reading through the judgement, the 'Es lawyers must have sucked utter and complete ass. The issues on the change from Block to scratch logo would be easy to change, and the issue over Injurious association should have been easier to prove.

wow so the real issue about the logo thing is that the other WWF felt that the block logo didnt look too much like the letters wwf but the scratch one did?

 

"since at least 1997 the Federation has simply ignored the contract. In particular with its adoption of the website address www.wwf.com in that year the Federation has more or less used the initials at will and on an increasing scale. It also dropped the block logo and went over to what was called the "scratch logo"…To my eye it is more obviously the initials than the block logo."

[Guest JMA]

Knowing this company, if they got the name back they'd probably market shirts saying "F-U" and have Cena wear them.

[bobobrazil1984 0]

To buy the initials, I can't see WWF letting them go for under 1 billion dollars.

 

 

That's ludicrous. Just like how they claimed that much in damages because Vince was also using the name. I don't know how Vince's dumbass lawyers couldn't prove this in court.

 

Vince had very clearly broken the rules of the contract he'd signed with WWF (Wildlife). It was an open and shut case. I can't think of any way Vince could have won considering there was an ironclad agreement between him and the Wildlife guys.