Policing Trademarks

There are times when you may hear of a trademark owner going after a very sympathetic group of people who are using the mark without authorization to raise money for a good cause. Many will shake their heads at what they conceive as the temerity of the owner of the mark to hassle such good people. Let's look at a hypothetical example.

The NFL owns the trademark to the name "Super Bowl" and learns of a few church groups advertising "Super Bowl" parties for $20.00 per person, with the proceeds going to aid the homeless. The NFL sends these church groups cease and desist letters regarding the parties, and takes action in court to prevent the parties when the church groups ignore the letters.

While some might argue that this is an example of a big corporation being heartless, it is really a legitimate attempt by the NFL to police its marks. It could be argued by future infringers upon the NFL's trademark that since the NFL did not enforce its rights against the church groups, that the future infringers thought that it was okay to misuse the NFL's marks. By policing its marks, the NFL would protect its marks from this sort of attack.

So just because you see a big corporation going after someone misappropriating the mark, this does not mean that the big corporation is being greedy or unsympathetic to the possibly worthy aims of the infringer. It could just mean that the big corporation is doing everything it can to protect its marks from future attack.