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Texas A&M suing Seattle over 12th Man

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OSUsushichic

OSUsushichic

Fired up! Ready to go!
Texas A&M takes 12th Man battle to court

By Benjamin J. Romano
Seattle Times business reporter

Texas A&M University asked a judge Monday to halt the Seahawks' use of the "12th Man" less than a week before Super Bowl XL.

"We have the responsibility and legal obligation to protect the university's trademarks, which in this instance is the 12th Man," Steve Moore, the university's chief marketing officer, said in a statement sent to The Seattle Times.

The university sent cease-and-desist letters to the Seahawks in 2004 and 2005, Moore said.

"Our requests have not been honored," he said. "Therefore, we have no other recourse but to take formal legal action."

The university filed for a temporary restraining order in the 85th District Court of Brazos County, Texas, where Texas A&M is located.

Margaret Chon, who teaches intellectual property law at Seattle University Law School, said a temporary restraining order is a type of emergency motion.

"It's a pretty extreme move - probably because the game is next week," she said.

The Aggies have two federal trademarks, the earliest dating to 1990, covering the words "12th Man." The phrase refers to fan support of the 11 players on the field.

At Texas A&M, the tradition of calling fans the 12th Man dates to 1922. The Seahawks franchise formally retired the No. 12 jersey in 1984 to honor the team's fans.

A spokesperson for the Seahawks could not immediately be reached late Monday.

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/seahawks/2002772466_web12thman30.html
 
this is only funny to me because of the amount of attention it is getting, i know for a fact that UT protects its trademarks on a regular basis....even our shade of orange(texas orange or burnt orange) I would be willing to bet that tOSU does as well, However, the relentlessness that aggy will show with this is going to be very humorous
 
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this type of thing was why I found it laughable how much respect aTm fans had from BPers a few weeks ago. Having spent time on texas boards last summer... I've never seen a program that had a worse case of little brother syndrome (which led to way more hilarious posts from the Aggie board than what I've seen from ND, UM, PSU, Iowa, and Miami fans combined).
 
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Although A&M may have a legal right to do so their lawsuit strikes me as pity and vindictive. This could turn out to be a press nightmare for them! Either they are trying to protect their trademarks or they are huge Steeler Fans!!!:biggrin:
 
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Seriously...who cares? So what if an NFL teams uses the phrase. Maybe it'd be different if it was Texas or another Big 12 school...but it's the Seattle Seahawks.

Texas A&M could spend it's money on academics instead of paying lawyers to sue NFL teams.
 
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HL, could you please share a few noteable examples of 'typical aggie' that you have come across recently? I was on your board occasionally and got a kick out of new aggie-isms almost every time I visited.
 
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JonathanXC said:
Seriously...who cares? So what if an NFL teams uses the phrase. Maybe it'd be different if it was Texas or another Big 12 school...but it's the Seattle Seahawks.

Texas A&M could spend it's money on academics instead of paying lawyers to sue NFL teams.
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honestly, it is a money issue, if the seahawks don't pay for the use of the trade mark then they must cease and dessist, what is the point of having a trademark if you don't enforce it.

HL, could you please share a few noteable examples of 'typical aggie' that you have come across recently? I was on your board occasionally and got a kick out of new aggie-isms almost every time I visited.
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kinda put me on the spot, let me collect my thoughts and i will post later. in the mean time i suggest visiting www.texags.com for endless amounts a fun
 
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This is pretty typical. Every school is aggressive about its trademarks. tOSU sent a c&d here to BP. What do you think they would do to another team that they felt was infringing on their trademarks?
 
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methomps said:
This is pretty typical. Every school is aggressive about its trademarks. tOSU sent a c&d here to BP. What do you think they would do to another team that they felt was infringing on their trademarks?
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I'm not so sure that Ohio State owns the copyright to the word "Buckeye". If you've noticed, we're still called BuckeyePlanet.
 
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I'm going to go ahead and say this lawsuit gets dismissed. My understanding is that Seattle retired the number 12 a long time ago and the suit is just now being filed.

Sorry, but the law doesn't allow you to sit on a lawsuit for that long. Seattle has spent money in reliance on the lack of a suit.
 
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Are the Seattle Seahawks damaging Texas A&M's income by using the the phrase? No. They are in two different leagues and are nowhere near each other. Seattle using the term "12th Man" causes no direct or indirect harm to the university's finances or fan base.

Why waste time on such a thing?
 
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The difference I see is that UT, or tOSU and others trademark or copyright and protect product and identity items - logos, nicknames that identify the team (Buckeyes, Longhorns, the team colors), cartoons of mascots (Bevo, Brutus) etc. What A&M have trademarked is a saying, one that while it fits school tradition (the #12 shirt worn during kick-offs by one walk-on player) has gained currency as generic term for the home-field advantage created by boisterous fans.

The term may have originated there, but its currency was widespread throughout football beyond College Station even before the trademarking by Texas A&M in 1990 - see for instance the retiring of the 12th number jersey by Seattle in honor of their fans in 1984.
 
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