The USFL is back in 2022

[Saxum]

Quote

“My guess is there’s some knucklehead out there who claimed he had registered the name and had the rights to it. We’re not being antagonistic. But if they want to do this, they should do it the right way and talk to the actual people, not some guy who sent in an Internet registration or something like that.”

 

Some might not like "knuckleheads" who register names and URLs but that is the way the laws work because big companies sometimes try to out muscle small guys tying them up in court so they cannot afford to fight and sell rights.

 

Netscape and other companies spent the money to develop browsers so Micro$oft decided it needed to have one branded with M$ name.

They salvaged as much as they could get away with from other companies to make their browser and in meantime started advertising campaign with new IE logo and marketing hype about M$ exploding onto the scene.  The name of the browser was called "Internet Exploder".  After marketing was done someone pointed out that ever time it crashed people would would say browser exploded which was not the connotation they intended so the marketing guys changed name to "Internet Explorer" with "explanation" nonsense was a typo.  There however was a product called "Internet Explorer" from a single developer in Minnesota who had trademarked name.  M$ took him to court multiple times raising damage to M$ in lawsuit to raise court to try to force him to abandon claim or sell name.  He was supported by a number of software groups and foundations and finally M$ needed to pay legal costs and buy it for hundreds of millions of dollars.

 

Note: I have a patent which was licensed by 13 companies and this patent was regular defended against unfair use by patent holder to those who tried to use it without payment until it expired.

[cba fan]

13 hours ago, chongli said:

 

Good find!

 

Here's a short excerpt from that article:

 

https://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2021/06/04/does-the-new-usfl-have-the-legal-right-to-call-itself-the-usfl/

 

Does the new USFL have the legal right to call itself the USFL?

 

“I was surprised when I heard about it this morning,” Steve Ehrhart, former USFL executive director, told Domowitch. “I want to dig into it and see who they’re claiming they acquired these rights [to the name] from. Because it didn’t come from any legitimate source.

 

“My guess is there’s some knucklehead out there who claimed he had registered the name and had the rights to it. We’re not being antagonistic. But if they want to do this, they should do it the right way and talk to the actual people, not some guy who sent in an Internet registration or something like that.”

 

Erhart contends that the USFL still exists, and that league officials still get monthly royalty checks. Brian Woods has resurrected the USFL, with FOX as the broadcaster and equity partner.

 

“We were only around three seasons, but the USFL was a classy, well-respected name,” Erhart said. “We always said that we didn’t want to just jump in there and sell it to somebody who was going to be underfunded and blow up and give a halfway kind of effort. So we never did give or sell or authorize the rights to anybody.”

 

[end]

 

I'm surprised league officials  still get monthly royalty checks after all these years. They still have money to give out?

i would not recommend USFL try to take this to court. USFL may win. 😎😂😂😂

for the record i loved the first USFL. Great fun. Bet on the games and made a lot of money so became hooked.

 

also USFL was planning to play years ago. What did Ehrhart do about that incarnation???

Also lol,...search just found an arena football team called san-antonio-gunslingers. How the hell did that happen? Ehrhart USFL lawyers better step it up. This would show precedent not enforcing trademark ownership and hurt any challenge they attempt.

Edited June 6, 2021 by cba fan

[Saxum]

On 6/5/2021 at 12:20 PM, chongli said:

I'm surprised league officials  still get monthly royalty checks after all these years. They still have money to give out?

 

Films is still being used by NFL.com and legal sites like youtube and they need to pay royalties every time film is used.

[CEN-CAL17]

I have always thought an alternate league would be awesome. I say continue with the expanded Practice Squads and allow PS players to be assigned to a team to play say a 5 games season with a 2 game playoff…. It will bring value to PS players and teams may get decent value in return, or find out they actually have a player.