The first “College Football Playoff” kicks off on January 1st. The semifinal games feature No. 2 Oregon vs. No. 3 Florida State in the Rose Bowl and No. 1 Alabama vs. No. 4 Ohio State in the Sugar Bowl. The two winners will then meet on January 12, 2015 in at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas (home of the Dallas Cowboys) to play for the National Championship. There are many trademarks involved in the events, from the teams to the stadiums to the playoffs themselves (at least according BCS Properties, LLC, the entity that owns and controls them.
Here are some of the more interesting trademarks involved in these games (click name or images to open USPTO records):
Rose Bowl
The “Rose Bowl” game and surrounding activities are the subject of many trademark registrations. And of course the teams are
- GRANDDADDY OF THEM ALL – registered for tee shirts and “ENTERTAINMENT SERVICES NAMELY, ORGANIZING, PROMOTING AND STAGING AN ANNUAL POST-SEASON INTERSECTIONAL INTERCOLLEGIATE FOOTBALL GAME AND RELATED EVENTS”
- AMERICA’S NEW YEAR CELEBRATION – Registered for “ENTERTAINMENT AND EDUCATIONAL SERVICES, NAMELY, ORGANIZING, PROMOTING AND STAGING OF ANNUAL CULTURAL EVENTS, INCLUDING FLORAL PAGEANTS, PARADES, CONCERTS, EQUESTRIAN PRESENTATIONS, SPORTING EVENTS, AND EVENTS AND ATTRACTIONS RELATED THERETO”
- ROSE BOWL PARADE – registered for “ORGANIZING, STAGING AN ANNUAL PARADE”
– Registered for promoting sports competitions and/or events of others; promoting concerts of others; promoting recreational activities of others; all excluding the promoting of an annual intersectional football game and parade; providing stadium facilities for sporting events, concerts and recreational activities
- OREGON DUCKS
- SEMINOLES
- FSU
Sugar Bowl
- The logo revolves around the trophy that is awarded. As you can see below, the trophy is a registered trademark. But the logo is not registered. The SUGAR BOWL name is not registered for clothing or other merchandise.
- SUGAR BOWL – registered for “Providing Football Games, Basketball Games, Tennis Games, Running Races and Regattas”
– registered for “Providing Football Games, Basketball Games, Tennis Games, Running Races and Regattas”
- URBAN MEYER (pending application)
(pending application)
(pending application)
(The mark consists of the trade dress comprising the color combination of crimson red and white, the crimson red as applied to the outer surface of the helmet and the white as a stripe running from front to back along the center of the helmet.)
The playoffs
- In March 2013, BCS Properties filed to register COLLEGE FOOTBALL PLAYOFF. Seems like it might be generic to me!
- They later filed for PLAYOFF SEMIFINAL. Even more generic?!
- And this logo:
for both entertainment services and a whole host of merchandise including mugs, wallets, video games, and key chains.
- The championship game will be at AT&T Stadium (pending trademark application).
