A column in the Roanoke Times is taking aim at bumper stickers saying ?Hokies for Romney-Ryan?, but Virginia Tech might want to look at their own legal history before whining about another use of the Hokie ?trademark?. For those unfamiliar with VT, a Hokie is their mascot, an imaginary bird that in my corner of Southwest Virginia is used as often to describe fans as Hoosier is to describe people from Indiana. Tech has attempted to keep the word trademarked, with some pretty bad results. First, their most recent disagreement, as reported by the oft-biased Christian Trejbal:
?Once again, I am directing the Republican Party of Virginia to not use Virginia Tech?s registered trademarks in campaign literature, posters, stickers, etc.,? Hincker wrote. He requested that the party recall the stickers and any other campaign literature using Tech?s name or marks.
He sent a similar letter to the Virginia Democratic Party, just in case, though Democrats have not printed infringing materials and have no plans to do so, according to Communications Director Brian Coy.
When it comes to trying to protect the Hokies name, Tech is ruthless. A sign similar to the bumper stickers that I made and posted to Zazzle was taken down because of a trademark claim from Tech?about a month ago. Unfortunately, Zazzle seemed completely?unwilling to listen to any arguments against that trademark. Tech?s legal history defending the Hokies name?points to trouble?brewing with the trademark. They ended up settling with ?Hokie Real Estate? and the real estate company came out on top:
According to the story printed by the Roanoke Times, Wilburn now has a licensing agreement to use the Hokie mark without payment along with free ad space for Hokie Real Estate in Virginia Tech?s alumni magazine.? As if this weren?t enough ? Wilburn will also receive four tickets to every home football game for the next five years, as well as ten years of platinum-level Hokie Club membership (an estimated $50,000 ? $100,000 value alone).? In return for their generous offer, Wilburn has agreed to stipulate that Virginia Tech owns the exclusive right to the ?Hokie? trademark.? In addition, Wilburn must let the mark that he has registered for ?Hokie Real Estate? expire in 2016 without renewal.
On its face, the settlement favors Wilburn ? but in reality, it is beneficial to both parties.? With the lawsuit over, Virginia Tech has avoided further litigation.? Up until the settlement, Virginia Tech?s attorney fees were in excess of $125,000, according to university spokesman Larry Hincker.? Virginia Tech also avoided a potential courtroom loss to Wilburn.? VTech, from all outside appearances, looked as though it was going to lose the lawsuit.
Virginia also has a ?loser pays? system, so the university would?ve ended up having to pay all of Wilburn?s legal fees if he were to?beat them in court. He probably would have, but the gold plated six figure?settlement the?school handed over was designed to save their ?trademark?, which has become so ubiquitous that it looked unlikely to stand in court.
At Ohio State, where I spent a few years, they?knew they couldn?t copyright ?Buckeyes? because, first off, it?s a nut and second, it became a symbol for many Ohioans. Here,?Hokies has become a symbol for Tech supporters, alumni and even some Southwest Virginians in general. Ohio State copyrighted and defended their ?Block O? and Tech should surely defend the?trademarks for their?VT logo and the Hokies image. Trying to hang onto their legally-challenged ?Hokies??word itself?and doing it through legal threats and demands will inevitably fail, and the Roanoke Times should?ve made note of that in the column.
Source: http://jhpolitics.com/2012/09/vt-targets-hokies-for-romney-ryan-bumper-stickers/
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