Trademark Trolls Stops University Nicknames

chipperdog writes: Trademark and patent trolls have even found their way in complicating a university nickname selection, with people admitting to registering nicknames with the trademark office just to stop them or get rich off of them. The Grand Forks Herald reports: "The search for a new University of North Dakota nickname hit a potential new stumbling block on Monday, when former Bismarck mayor Marlan 'Hawk' Haakenson registered trade names for several of the Fighting Sioux replacement options under consideration. Haakenson said he registered the trade names in an attempt to interfere with the nickname selection process, though a UND official said such an attempt was unlikely to succeed."

Comments

"found there way"

[Calydor]

Can't the editors even tell the difference between there, their and they're?

Re:"found there way"

[Godwin O'Hitler]

I'm still trying to parse "Trademark Trolls Stops University Nicknames".

Re:"found there way"

[Anonymous Coward]

They're there!
    -- NEWALL

Re:"found there way"

[Anonymous Coward]

Theirs too busy updating there site with those Beta features of they're that have been their for a while.

Re:"found there way"

[Anonymous Coward]

No, there just two stupid too konw they're grammar.

Re:"found there way"

[Anonymous Coward]

What "editors" are you talking about?

This site has no editors. I don't know what the people managing the posts are, but they are certainly not editors according to any reasonable definition of the word.

Re:"found there way"

[camg188]

Also, the summary makes it sound like a bunch of people are doing this all over the place, but the story is about 1 guy and 1 school in North Dakota.

Re:"found there way"

[DustPuppySnr]

They should watch this. https://www.youtube.com/watch?...

Re:"found there way"

[binarylarry]

Their Their, know calm done.

Re:"found there way"

[Anonymous Coward]

It's about a guy called 'Trademark Trolls'. He's trying to stop University Nicknames (his nemesis).

Re:"found there way"

[JustAnotherOldGuy]

Can't the editors even tell the difference between there, their and they're?

And the answer is "no". That would require either a minor attention to detail, or an editor with a 4th-grade education, or both.

As a former tech writer this kind of thing drives me up a wall, but I've learned to just grit my teeth and move on. If they haven't learned how to spell or how to proofread by now, they're never going to. Just smile, shake your head, and have another drink. :)

Re:"found there way"

[JustAnotherOldGuy]

Slashdot Editors: "Wee right goode sew ewe dont half two!"

Re:"found there way"

[Darinbob]

You leave there grammar out of this, she's a nice old lady.

Re:"found there way"

[vgerdj]

They're there for their spelling text.

This summary is incomprehensible

[Anonymous Coward]

Perhaps it means more to people in the US, but to a rest-of-the worlder this summary is entirely incomprehensible. In fact it is the most meaningless summary I have read in around ten years of reading Slashdot headlines.

Re:This summary is incomprehensible

[Anonymous Coward]

It's incomprehensible even to people in the US.

Re:This summary is incomprehensible

[NicBenjamin]

University of North Dakota's sports teams nickname was the "Fighting Sioux," a reference to the Sioux tribe that owned the state before the white man came. It's considered a bit dickish fort white conquerers to name their sports teams after their conquests, so the body governing college sports ordered them to come up with a new one or get permission from the Sioux. The bands on one reservation voted yes, the other reservation refused to hold a vote, so UND had to change it's nickname.

Which led to a convoluted bureaucratic process which die-hard fans do their best to derail in futile hope that the regulators (the NCAA) or the recalcitrant Sioux on that other reservation will give up and let them go back to being the Fighting Sioux.

This troll is apparently one of them, and he's trademarked the most likely new nicknames.

Re:This summary is incomprehensible

[Anonymous Coward]

I don't know anything about sports and wasn't aware of this issue, nor have I heard of this team's name before.
I was able to read through the poorly written summary and comprehend what it meant however.
Maybe you are just really dumb?

Re: This summary is incomprehensible

[Anonymous Coward]

I marvel that you put that much effort into describing this worthless article.

Re:This summary is incomprehensible

[Panoptes]

"This troll is apparently one of them, and he's trademarked the most likely new nicknames"

If he threatens legal action, tell him to Sioux and be damned.

Re:This summary is incomprehensible

[drinkypoo]

This troll is apparently one of them, and he's trademarked the most likely new nicknames.

They should change their name to the Haakenson-Fuckers.

Re:This summary is incomprehensible

[rtb61]

Which is fine, as long as he is a university sports association, of course if he is not, than the trademark just shows a dick with no understanding of law being a dick. So blocked not so much and courts will toss it out.

Re:This summary is incomprehensible

[Anonymous Coward]

Actually, I had no trouble figuring that out. This is basically a case of a school letting itself be run over by yet another bit of political correctness running amok. The Sioux are supposed to feel bad that a school honors them by using their name.

Anyway, I can't believe that I'm in a situation now where I'm cheering for the trolls! So Sioux me.

Re:This summary is incomprehensible

[Attila Dimedici]

You mean the way they named the ENTIRE state after a subgroup of that tribe?

What they ought to do is just rename the team the "Fighting Dakotans", since the NCAA has already ruled that they can continue to use the word Dakota.

Re:This summary is incomprehensible

[Anonymous Coward]

It's considered a bit dickish fort white conquerers to name their sports teams after their conquests...

Yep, not a chance it's a sign of respect. I mean, in this day and age, that's not even a possibility, is it?

Re:This summary is incomprehensible

[waTeim]

Think of the half time show!

Re:This summary is incomprehensible

[alvinrod]

They should change their name to the Fighting Sues. They can use an old lady with hair curlers in a bathrobe holding a rolling pin menacingly as their mascot. Something kind of like this maybe.

Re:This summary is incomprehensible

[Anonymous Coward]

I'm American, but knew nothing about the issues involved. I don't think TFS uses any particularly American language. I thought it was pretty clear, though. I mean, it said what is happening, but I was left wondering why the ex-mayor wants to " interfere with the nickname selection process".
I'm curious about your incomprehension. My only guess is that the concept of a "university nickname" might be peculiar to America. Am I right?

Re:This summary is incomprehensible

[Anonymous Coward]

Except the Sioux were not actually even indigenous to the Dakotas. They came from the woodlands of eastern Minnesota and Wisconsin in the late 1700's pushing other previous inhabitants out. So perhaps they are being honored as a group conquering territory whose example the Dakota pioneers emulated and admired?

Re:This summary is incomprehensible

[Anonymous Coward]

Good summary of the tribal history at: http://www.historyforkids.org/learn/northamerica/before1500/history/sioux.htm and http://www.historyforkids.org/learn/northamerica/after1500/history/sioux.htm

Re:This summary is incomprehensible

[Darinbob]

Because it's not a sign of respect. They used that name because football teams tended to represent themselves as vicious and mean in the early days of the sport. Thus being named after savages was common, which is why those tribes with a more barbaric stereotype had their names borrowed. If we were trying to honor the Sioux, we'd name school libraries after them, not some stupid school sports teams for stupid drunks to watch.

Re:This summary is incomprehensible

[Darinbob]

It's a school sports team, it's not an honor to have your name used by them. So the Sioux stand along side the Grizzlies, Bulldogs, Sharks, Hornets, Gators, Wildcats, Buccaneers, etc. Yes, there are more mild football team names, but I never see those as honorific names. Almost inevitably they are animals or a group with a dangerous reputation. Having a name that's actually an honor to a person or group is extremely rare.

It's purely revisionist and anti-PC reactionism to claim that these are names to honor native American tribes.

Re:This summary is incomprehensible

[Anonymous Coward]

Don't forget the Fighting Irish.

Re:This summary is incomprehensible

[HiThere]

Have you noticed how libraries are being treated recently? I'd hardly call that an honor.

Re: This summary is incomprehensible

[NicBenjamin]

Didn't bother reading the article.

I just follow college sports in the US, with a particular interest in Ice Hockey; and the UND Ice Hockey team is actually quite good. There's lots of news about what those guys will get called.

Re:This summary is incomprehensible

[Runaway1956]

Actually - you ought to ask the warriors of the tribes how they feel about being so honored. Yeah, you can ask the women too, but most definitely talk to the warriors.

All that you have stated here, is that you do not respect warriors. You are incapable of understanding the honor of being remembered as great fighters. If you live someplace where there are no Native Americans to speak to, then you should at least talk to some military veterans. We are everywhere, there's not a chance in hell that you can't find some veterans to talk to.

As for myself, I have Native American blood in my veins, I live close to reservations, and I've worked with members of several tribes for much of my adult life. With few exceptions, all of the American Indians I've ever known take some pride in those teams named after the tribes. I hear some objections, but the overwhelming majority are proud of their fighting history.

The single strongest objection to the use of tribal names, is that the pale faces don't really appreciate the history of the tribes, much less the culture. Mostly, they laugh at the white man for being ignorant.

Re:This summary is incomprehensible

[Runaway1956]

Odd that the site seems to begin history in 1500. I guess that's as far back as they can dig. Odd also that they only cite climate change as a force that might push a tribe out of it's ancestral home. They just ignore the fact that other tribes were competing for resources. For instance, when the Mayan civilization collapsed, a lot of Mayans moved to the southeast US, displacing a lot of "native" tribes. As the Azteca rose to power, they also displaced a lot of other tribes. And, in more recent times, the Apache were pushed into the Azteca sphere of influence when they were pushed south by other competing tribes.

Yeah - climate change affects a lot, but pressure from other groups of humans have always played an important role in the Americas. The arrival of the Europeans simply put a different face on an ages old problem. That problem being, "What do we do when we meet competition to strong to compete against?"

Re:This summary is incomprehensible

[dl_sledding]

No, the revisionism is coming from those that fought to change the name.

If you did ANY research into this particular case, you would see that the school was given the name by the Lakota and Dakota tribes in the 60s, during a ceremony performed by the tribes themselves. The PC and revisionary actions were done by the nazi-like NCAA when it heavy-handedly forced UND to change it's nickname. Eventually, the tribes themselves were given the chance to enter their opinions into the record; one of them, the Spirit Lake tribe, held a tribe-wide vote and OVERWHELMINGLY chose to show support in keeping the nickname, in spite of what their tribal chairwoman felt; she changed her vote when she saw the outcome of the tribal vote. At the other tribe in question, the Three Affiliate Tribes, the members themselves were not allowed to vote; the tribal Chairman, in an obvious act of oppression of public opinion, right out of the dictator handbook, decided for the tribe (based on his own personal opinion) that the tribe would not support the name and would rescind the honor given to the school in the 60s, even stating that the tribal members do not know what was good for them but he did.

The funny thing is that the Sioux tribes were not the original instigators for the removal of the name. It was a group of whites, and a few AIM instigators (including Russel Means), that pushed the issue.

Having a name that's actually an honor to a person or group is extremely rare.

Then, you should start a push to rid the world of the Fighting Irish, the Vikings, etc.

Intent to interfere should be infringement

[jrumney]

Haakenson said he registered the trade names in an attempt to interfere...

That should count as Trademark infringement right there - even if the legitimate user hadn't registered or even decided the name yet.

Re:Intent to interfere should be infringement

[moronoxyd]

No, it shouldn't. There is no trademark that can be infringed yet, so there can be no trademark infringement.

Re:Intent to interfere should be infringement

[Rainbow Nerds]

If he was being serious then, yes, I might agree. But unless I'm reading this situation completely wrong, it's a guy trying to troll a rival school. I'd bet he knows he won't actually get to keep the trademarks, and is just trying to give some shit to a rival school. If so, he's thrown away a bit of money, but no real harm was done. It reminds me of the time someone registered mizzou.us and made it redirect to ku.edu. That's probably the only clever thing a kU grad has ever done, and it's actually pretty damn funny. If this guy is just giving shit to UND fans, it shouldn't be penalized. I hate IP trolls as much as the next person, but I hope common sense wins out here.

Re:Intent to interfere should be infringement

[jrumney]

Except that we have an insider who uses the knowledge that the future use of a trademark is under consideration, and registers it purely with the intent of interfering. I think it would be a useful deterrent for the law to treat this as infringement despite the fact that the malicious registrant beat the legitimate user to the punch. Likewise for patents - patent holders who register vague patents for obvious future inventions without the intention or even technical knowhow to actually produce a working invention should get their own claims for damages thrown back at them.

Re:Intent to interfere should be infringement

[jrumney]

So you're saying that abusing legal processes should be OK if it's just done for a laugh?

Re:Intent to interfere should be infringement

[Rainbow Nerds]

If he actually was granted the trademarks and tried to defend them, then yes, he should face a penalty for wasting someone's money in a frivolous lawsuit. In this particular case, that would be the money of North Dakota taxpayers who fund UND. But simply trying to register the trademarks, which really should be denied, really isn't hurting anyone. He's throwing away some of his own money, but that's about it. I highly doubt he's serious about defending the trademarks in court, and I think he's just saying that to rile up fans of UND. Lighten up, Francis.

Re:Intent to interfere should be infringement

[bickerdyke]

who would type mizzouinto his address bar?

Re:Intent to interfere should be infringement

[Anonymous Coward]

If he was being serious he would have added the trademarks the figting chicken hawks and the home of the draft dodgers to the list and then watched as all your college elite classes had to fight for the names.

Re:Intent to interfere should be infringement

[camg188]

Not quite. He's not from a rival school and he's not trolling. He's an alumnus who likes the old name and is trying to block the new names by trademarking them and denying their use to the school.
From the fn article: "Haakenson, who attended North Dakota State University but says he's a supporter of the Fighting Sioux nickname..."

Re:Intent to interfere should be infringement

[moronoxyd]

Insider? As far as I can tell the five shortlisted names are public knowledge.

Re:Intent to interfere should be infringement

[Holi]

Don't trademarks require a declaration of use? I mean you can't just get a trademark and not use it, it's not like a patent.

Re:Intent to interfere should be infringement

[Anonymous Coward]

Plus this guy can't really claim to be a university nor a college, so he's pretty much SOL.

Re:Intent to interfere should be infringement

[Rainbow Nerds]

UND and NDSU are, indeed, rivals. There's actually a trophy for the rivalry, called the Nickel Trophy. Haakenson did actually attend NDSU, as your quote says. However, I'm obviously wrong about his motivations here since the article says as much and I clearly just skimmed the article or didn't pick up on it due to lack of sleep. I'm a little embarrassed about being dead wrong and posting more than once about it.

It's a waste of public money to actually defend this through trademarks. It's doomed to failure. It's clever but doesn't have a snowball's chance in hell of working.

Regarding the actual name, I'm not sure I agree with changing the name. The NCAA declared the name hostile, but it doesn't appear that they did so by contacting the actual Native American tribes portrayed. This caused quite a controversy with Florida State, who are called the Seminoles and actually have the support of the tribes. The NCAA told FSU to change the name without ever asking the tribes if they wanted the name changed. With regard to the UND situation, I don't really agree with changing the name. There are two tribes involved, the Spirit Lake tribe and the Standing Rock tribe. The Standing Rock tribe never officially voted on the matter, and only 8 percent of the people in Sioux County, where most of the reservation is located, voted when it was put to a public vote. It seems like the Standing Rock tribe really doesn't care if UND uses the name or not. However, the view of the Spirit Lake tribe was very different. They affirmed that they support the Fighting Sioux name and some of the members of the Spirit Lake tribe sued to try to get UND to keep the Fighting Sioux name. The lawsuit was ultimately dismissed.

In summary, one tribe doesn't really care about the nickname and, therefore, doesn't seem too offended. The other tribe involved seems passionate that the Fighting Sioux name ought to be kept. Yet the name was deemed hostile by the NCAA, who didn't bother to find out if it really offended anyone, and UND was threatened with sanctions if they didn't change the name. I think it's a terrible ploy to use trademarks to try to force UND to keep the Fighting Sioux name. That said, the Fighting Sioux name ought to stay. It seems like Haakenson's heart is in the right place, but it's a desperate attempt that's bound to failure.

My sources?
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/huff-wires/20120614/us-north-dakota-primary-fighting-sioux/
http://espn.go.com/college-sports/story/_/id/7881221/judge-throws-tribes-lawsuit-north-dakota-fighting-sioux-name

Re:Intent to interfere should be infringement

[Dragonslicer]

Not quite. He's not from a rival school and he's not trolling. He's an alumnus...

University of North Dakota and North Dakota State University are not the same school.

Re:Trademarks are for cows.

[Anonymous Coward]

Have some Jazz.

Sounds to me

[Chas]

Like this guy in volunteering for a campus-wide beatdown.

Or maybe having his car reassembled in his living room some night.

Or having all the locks on his house and car threadlocked.

Re:Sounds to me

[PolygamousRanchKid]

Actually, I read TFA, just because the whole thing didn't seem to make any sense to me. It turns out that the University of North Dakota nickname was "The Fighting Sioux". The NCAA ordered them to change the nickname, probably because of complaints from the Sioux Nation, but a lot of folks still want to keep the old nickname. A committee came up with a few dorky suggestions, so some guy who wants to keep the old nickname trademarked the new suggestions to block the change.

In the US, the University of Notre Dame has the nickname, "The Fighting Irish". I'm guessing that Irish folks could also complain to the NCAA and demand a change.

How about a new nickname . . . "The Drinking Irish" . . . ?

Re:Sounds to me

[Rainbow Nerds]

That's close, but not quite correct.

The NCAA ordered all schools using Native American nicknames to change otherwise they would face certain penalties from the NCAA. The exception is for schools with the support of local tribes, which is how Florida State gets to be the Seminoles and, I believe, Utah gets to stay the Utes. UND wasn't so lucky as the Sioux didn't give their blessing to continued use of the name.

The guy registering the trademarks is actually an ND State grad (source: http://www.startribune.com/und-nickname-issue-mucked-up-by-former-mayor/327720071/), so I doubt he cares about UND being called the Fighting Sioux. I assume there's an intrastate rivalry between the two schools and it's an ND State grad trying to give shit to UND and their fans. I don't think he's serious about keeping the trademarks. I think he's just trying to get attention and troll rival fans. It won't be successful, and I think he knows as much. One of the names he tried to trademark is "North Stars," which I'm guessing is actually trademarked by the NHL's Dallas Stars.

As for the other ND, Notre Dame, I'm not offended by their name. I am, however, offended by their refusal to join a conference for football.

Re:Sounds to me

[bickerdyke]

Are university nicknames somehow mandated by law? Or why are they searching for one? Searching a mascott, ok. But there's nothing more pathetic that someone trying to give himself a nickname.

Re:Sounds to me

[Anonymous Coward]

Perhaps UND should call themselves "The UNDerdogs"?

Re:Sounds to me

[PolygamousRanchKid]

In the US, the name of the university football team is used as the nickname and the mascot. So, for example, the Princeton's football team are called the "Tigers". At a game, someone will dress up in a tiger suit and bounce around with the cheerleaders as the mascot. The university also uses the tiger theme to give the students common identity, and after you graduate, the university will send you letters asking for donations. Which are decorated by little tiger logos. Animals are popular nicknames.

However, some universities used Native American tribes as nicknames, trying to convey a "fighting" spirit. So some of them dressed up their mascots as Native American tribal chiefs . . . and also danced around with the cheerleaders. The NCAA, a non-governmental organization which oversees college sports in the US considers this to be in bad taste now, and has ordered colleges to change the names of their sports teams . . . which by default, means a change in the university nickname. Since some of these nicknames have been around forever, in US time metrics, well, that is what all the fuss is about.

Re:Sounds to me

[Panoptes]

"The NCAA, a non-governmental organization which oversees college sports in the US considers this to be in bad taste"

In other words they have reservations.

Re:Sounds to me

[Anonymous Coward]

I'm offended by the existence of the Florida State Semenholes. They should disband.

Re:Sounds to me

[bickerdyke]

Bada-Ching!

Re:Sounds to me

[bickerdyke]

But shouldn't they still look for a mascot first? In time, after and if that proofs successful, a nickname might be derived from that. Nicknames are given. Everything else feels just plain wrong. Anyone remembers "Grandmaster B" from "married with children" or When Homer Simpson changed his name to "Max Power"? Tells much more about what you NOT are than about what you are.

Re:Sounds to me

[PolygamousRanchKid]

American college football does not have to make sense. Check out this book review from The Economist:

http://www.economist.com/news/...

Re:Sounds to me

[HiThere]

Wouldn't that get the MPAA after them? Or has the trademark for that cartoon character been abandoned?

Re:Sounds to me

[bickerdyke]

thx.

Though I have to admit that I'm slightly excited at the prospect of (maybe) going to a Penn State game in a few weeks. Well, I might be able to find out myself....

Editors?

[Anonymous Coward]

So the editors have officially given up now

Is this really trademark trolling?

[Rainbow Nerds]

I suppose it's trolling, in the sense of trying to troll a rival intrastate school. I'm assuming UND and North Dakota State have a rivalry, as is the case in many states. The NCAA has cracked down on the use of Native American names for collegiate teams. Florida State gets to remain the Seminoles and I think Utah can stay the Utes. But many other schools haven't been able to keep their names, and UND is one of them. This guy is trying to register many potential names in order to keep his rival school from choosing a name for their teams. It's highly unlikely to succeed, and I don't think there's any way he could get a trademark on at least one of the names. That name is "North Stars," which was the name of the NHL's Dallas Stars prior to moving from Minnesota to Texas. I'm assuming the Dallas Stars still maintain that trademark, which is probably why the new NHL team there is the Minnesota Wild. It really seems like an attempt to annoy a rival fan base, not actually obtain and defend those trademarks.

In English, please

[wonkey_monkey]

Trademark Trolls Stops University Nicknames

Trademark and patent trolls have even found there way

Re:Trademarks are for cows.

[Anonymous Coward]

Moo you Jazz cows, MOO!

University nickname

[Anonymous Coward]

Why would a university need a nickname? IT seems to me this university already has a perfectly fine name.

Re: University nickname

[Anonymous Coward]

I always wanted to go to Western Washington University, aka Double Double U U.

Why would a nickname be subject to a trademark?

[Anonymous Coward]

You do not choose your own Nickname - it is what someone starts calling you, others follow suite and the name 'sticks'. Also it is an unofficial name. In any case, a trademark only applies to specified 'trades', and it is possible for different companies to register the same trademark for different uses - for example 'Apple' records and computers. So, unless these trolls are educational establishments, their registration of the trademarks (in other areas) would not prevent the University from using it.

Re:Why would a nickname be subject to a trademark?

[Rainbow Nerds]

In this case, nicknames are the names used by the school's athletic teams in intercollegiate athletics. My school, the University of Missouri, competes under the name Tigers. For large universities, it's actually one of the most recognizable aspects of the school for the general public. I'll bet most people not from Missouri or who didn't attend the school don't know much about them academically. But if they follow college sports at all, they've probably heard of the Missouri Tigers.

However, a few schools do have nicknames that are recognizable enough to be trademarked. There are a few that come to mind. My school, the University of Missouri, is commonly known as Mizzou. That's actually a contraction of Missouri State University, which was a name the school used in the 19th and early 20th centuries. Washington State is the same way; they're known as Wazzu. Kansas State goes by K-State. The Georgia Institute of Technology is commonly known as Georgia Tech. While not the official name of those universities, they're recognizable enough to merit being trademarked.

In this case, UND has to come up with a new name for their athletic teams because the NCAA won't let them use "Fighting Sioux" any longer. Many replacement names have been suggested. A graduate of a rival school is trying to trademark some of those suggestions for the purpose of trolling UND fans. I highly doubt he will be successful in the endeavor, and I think he's just trying to piss off UND fans.

Re:Why would a nickname be subject to a trademark?

[tomhath]

Apparently you didn't RTFA, bacause that was explained (Roughriders is one of the nicknames under consideration):

On the North Dakota Secretary of State's website, there are five registered entities in good standing that include Roughriders, including a motorcycle club, an apothecary and a welding company.

Taken

[Impy the Impiuos Imp]

> replacement nicknames for "Fightin' Sioux" trademarked

So some scammer pre-registered "The Not-Fightin' Self-Abasing European-DNA'd Getalongers"? Rats!

Well there's a nice paradox for you

[Anonymous Coward]

University is the only reason we have too many patent lawyers in the first place. Universities don't mind taking your money for a stupid law degree, let them choke on the handiwork of lawyers.

Re: Well there's a nice paradox for you

[Anonymous Coward]

Patents != trademarks

Re:Well there's a nice paradox for you

[Desler]

What do patent lawyers have to do with trademarks?

Re:Well there's a nice paradox for you

[steelscalp]

Patents, trademarks and copyrights all fall into the category of "intellectual property" (IP). The USPTO handles both patents and trademarks.

Re:Well there's a nice paradox for you

[Anonymous Coward]

Ask the summary.

Re:Well there's a nice paradox for you

[Desler]

Summary makes no mentions of patents.

Re:Well there's a nice paradox for you

[Desler]

But again, a patent lawyer would not deal in trademarks as they are not the same thing.

Samzenpus, you are SUCH A BLITHERING IDIOT.

[Anonymous Coward]

"there way"

It's "THEIR" way, you fucking moron.

Re:Samzenpus, you are SUCH A BLITHERING IDIOT.

[PPH]

There, their, they're now.

Don't go getting all worked up over a few simple grammar errors.

Slashdot is full of marketing idiots...

[Anonymous Coward]

there way

...

Don't you fucking idiots have editors?

Unless my understanding of trademark law is off

[Chris Mattern]

And I'll admit I'm not a lawyer, I don't see how this works. You can't trademark in a vacuum; you have to be trademarking the name of a product. That's why it's called a "trademark". And what's more, a trademark only covers trying to sell the same type of product under that name (which is why you can have Apple Records and Apple Computer). So unless this guy owns a university and is trademarking nicknames for it, I don't see how this can interfere with UND at all.

Re:Unless my understanding of trademark law is off

[Attila Dimedici]

Well, there are two ways this works. First, the University does a search of existing trademarks, find that this one is trademarked and moves on. Second, the University wants to sell rights to use the name chosen to lots of different people selling lots of different things. This latter only works if someone else is not already using this trademark in that area.
That being said, this guy's plan only looks like it works if the University committee is not aware of what they are doing (or wants to use it as an excuse not to go with a particular nickname).

Re:Unless my understanding of trademark law is off

[Solandri]

This. Trademarks are a lot tougher to enforce than patents and copyrights. (1) You have to actually be using it yourself or it's considered abandoned, and (2) it only applies to a certain product. So unless the person who registered the trademark is running a university which is actively using all the trademarked names he registered, he's going to be laughed out of court if he tries to prevent a university from using just one.

Re:Unless my understanding of trademark law is off

[radarskiy]

According to the article, the trademarks were filed as "Real Estate - Personal." So as long as UND does not use those terms for real estate Haakenson just wasted his money.

Re:Trademarks are for cows.

[Anonymous Coward]

MOO!

Re:really dumb

[hackwrench]

Or maybe parsing poorly written summaries isn't the end all and be all of intelligence tests?

And it concerns...

[DriveDog]

...both people who might possibly care what the nickname of UND is?

Excellent decision by the bands who refused to vote.

Why isn't there a requirement to use the name?

[wardrich86]

Why is there no requirement to use registered names within X days to keep the trademark? What's stopping some rich guy from trademarking a whole crap load of fun-sounding buzzwords with 0 intent of actually ever using them?

And this is different how?

[Anonymous Coward]

Back around 2000, the Seattle Drizzle Women's Basketball Team were very surprised to discover that despite having had a registered trademark for their sports team, for at least three years, the NBA decided to use the name "The Seattle Drizzle" for their professional womens basketball sports team.

Aargh

[JustNiz]

>> even found there way in complicating a

I'm seeing this error so frequently now in written American English that I'm genuinely wondering if US schools don't bother teaching or enforcing the difference between "their" and "there" any more. Is this actually true?

Why don't they....

[Anonymous Coward]

Just offer the fucking Sioux exclusive college sport scholarships if they'll vote to allow them to keep the Fighting Sioux name?

Re-empower their namesake, and take the psychological fear of the 'Fighting Sioux' by adopting their skin (literally!).

Does nobody with leadership abilities and tact exist in this country anymore?

Re:Why don't they....

[HiThere]

That'd probably work.

He registered trade NAMES, not trademarks

[westhinksnickssuck]

This has nothing at all to do with trademarks. The ex-mayor of Bismarck registered several trade names, which are not the same thing as trademarks. UND does business as UND and not as the nickname of the school, so all Haakenson has done is make a fool of himself, this won't affect anything if UND happens to pick a school nickname that is the same as one of the trade names registered.

Best Nickname?

[Anonymous Coward]

NoDa

No duh!