Foolish us. We always thought White Out was the typewriter correction fluid invented by Bette Nesmith, the mother of Michael Nesmith, a member of The Monkees.Turns out we were wrong. The term "White Out" has been trademarked by the Phoenix Coyotes, and this is creating problems for Penn State, which was granted an exemption last year by the NHL team to use the term for one game at Beaver Stadium.
"They had done all the marketing and merchandising, and we didn't want to ruin the day for their fans," Coyote vice president Jeff Holbrook said. "They asked us to give us a one-time exception, and we said, 'Sure. Go ahead.' "
Then Penn State declared another "White Out" for this season's home game against Notre Dame, even declaring Beaver Stadium the "White House."
Penn State officials believe there is a legal gray area in the trademark terms and have applied to protect the phrase "Penn State White Out." Coyote officials are prepared to fight.
"We're not on a 'White Out' witch hunt, but there's a reason people register trademarks," Holbrook said.
Thanks to Kevin of We Are Penn State.
5 comments:
Anytime you can work a Monkees reference into a college football blog, you've done yourself proud.
Reminds me of the SLC Buzz, a minor league baseball team. The team is now the SLC Stingers after Georgia Tech threatened a lawsuit because their mascot is named Buzz. Watch out! GT owns all rights to the word Buzz. Don't tell them I used it three times in this comment.
I don't know, seems like the Coyotes were playing nice by giving them a one-time exemption and now PSU is trying to screw them over.
I think the product is intentionally spelled "Wite Out".
Either way, a "white out" is also a term for a blizzard, so it's ridiculous to be trademarked in any way.
Give an inch, take a mile.
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