More Framegate Karma: Texas A&M Sues Dolts Over 12th Man Trademark

[joeybee12]

Texas A&M has sued the Indianapolis Colts for infringing on its trademark of "12th Man."

At a board of regents meeting Thursday, school chancellor John Sharp revealed that Texas A&M filed suit in U.S. District Court in Houston after repeated attempts to stop the Colts from using its registered trademark were unsuccessful.

The suit, filed Thursday, alleges that the school first contacted the Colts in 2006 about the use of the phrase inside their stadium and sent a cease-and-desist letter, which the school says fell on deaf ears.

The Colts retired the "12th Man" in their ring of honor in 2008, and according to the suit, were again warned by A&M that the team was infringing on a mark that the school owned.

The tipping point came in July, when in an email advertisement to sell tickets, the Colts encouraged fans to "Join The 12th Man." School officials discovered the infringement when a person in College Station, home of Texas A&M, received the email.

http://espn.go.com/college-football/story/_/id/14113722/texas-aggies-sue-indianapolis-colts-use-12th-man-trademark

[KamaAina]

1. Um, shouldn't they be suing the Sea Slugs?

And the Sea Slugs in turn suing the Dolts?



Oh, and the Niners get to sue the Slugs for using "Faithful".

[joeybee12]

2. a bonanza for lawyers. .nt

[Angleae]

3. The Seahawks paid A&M for the rights to use it several years ago.

[TexasTowelie]

4. The story from The Eagle in College Station:

exas A&M University sued the Indianapolis Colts on Thursday for what the school is calling unauthorized use of the "12th Man" phrase.

Lawyers representing Texas A&M claim the NFL team used the phrase in ticket and merchandise promotions after several cease and desist letters dating back to 2006.

"We bear no ill will toward the Indianapolis Colts," said Texas A&M System Chancellor John Sharp in a statement. "We simply want them to respect our trademark rights. Our actions are consistent with our previous trademark enforcement efforts in this regard."

A spokesperson at the Colts did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

More at http://www.theeagle.com/news/local/texas-a-m-sues-indianapolis-colts-over-use-of-th/article_774dba17-b2ce-5d72-878a-5d76a9f0cd25.html .

[mythology]

5. What a stupid trademark

It was used prior to Texas A&M and so the trademark should be vacated.

But even if that wasn't the case, it has no impact on the game unlike Belichik spying and Brady deflating. The Patriots do things that undermine the integrity of the game.

[hughee99]

6. Nice work turning this into a pats thread.

I hear the pats pump in crowd noise too and belichick has been rigging the coin toss.