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NASL Indianapolis 'name the team'


mcrosby

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I understand Intellectual Propoery, but from a Marketing standpoint, I often think a similar name/concept can actually SUPPORT a brand as oppose to detracting attention.

@Frenchie_TO
Owner of the Rochester Americans of the MLH

Owner of the Toronto Frenchies of the GCFHL6

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How?

It would invariably dilute the brand by allowing a new group to piggyback on the older, established one.

By your logic, Miller, Pabst, etc. should have blocked Milwaukee's baseball team from being the Brewers.

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No, there's a difference.

If there was only one significant brewery in Milwaukee, established and world-famous, then you'd have a case. When there are so many, the mark is already diluted beyond a level where a single company could claim ownership.

But any references to racing and Indianapolis would obviously be referencing the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. Hard to deny that the marks would have been chosen by the NASL team for any other reason.

That's where specific infringement comes in, and where your analogy breaks down. If you will.

That could be why the Pacers insist that their name refers to harness racing as much as anything else, and why they don't use a checkerboard motif or other motorsports-specific iconography. If the NASL club could find some sort of very generic way to refer to racing, they might be able to make a similar claim. But a checkerboard? Or something suggesting Brickyard? They'll get sued, and deserve it.

Now, in the case of a brewer, say Miller, and the Brewers, then I can see how the existence of a team can help the company's brand. The baseball team would be a way to carry the brand into another industry, one in which the brewery has no specific investment. But the IMS and NASL are direct competitors for attention and entertainment dollars, so I don't see any way that a competing soccer team would do anything other than dilute the Speedway's intellectual property.

We tend to think that multiple sports teams in one city are fraternal and cooperative. What's good for one is good for the city and therefore good for all, right? The truth is actually that they're competitors for the same dollar, and what helps one can drain money away from the others. Again, a reason to explain why the IMS is disinclined to share.

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No, there's a difference.

If there was only one significant brewery in Milwaukee, established and world-famous, then you'd have a case. When there are so many, the mark is already diluted beyond a level where a single company could claim ownership.

But any references to racing and Indianapolis would obviously be referencing the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. Hard to deny that the marks would have been chosen by the NASL team for any other reason.

That's where specific infringement comes in, and where your analogy breaks down. If you will.

That could be why the Pacers insist that their name refers to harness racing as much as anything else, and why they don't use a checkerboard motif or other motorsports-specific iconography. If the NASL club could find some sort of very generic way to refer to racing, they might be able to make a similar claim. But a checkerboard? Or something suggesting Brickyard? They'll get sued, and deserve it.

Now, in the case of a brewer, say Miller, and the Brewers, then I can see how the existence of a team can help the company's brand. The baseball team would be a way to carry the brand into another industry, one in which the brewery has no specific investment. But the IMS and NASL are direct competitors for attention and entertainment dollars, so I don't see any way that a competing soccer team would do anything other than dilute the Speedway's intellectual property.

We tend to think that multiple sports teams in one city are fraternal and cooperative. What's good for one is good for the city and therefore good for all, right? The truth is actually that they're competitors for the same dollar, and what helps one can drain money away from the others. Again, a reason to explain why the IMS is disinclined to share.

OK...better example would be Augusta, Georgia's sports teams.

Their baseball team is the GreenJackets, their hockey team was the Lynx. Given Augusta is the home to Augusta National and The Masters, both nicknames reference it ("hitting the links" being slang for golfing and a green jacket being the Masters winner's prize). Why did Augusta National do nothing to stop that?

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I'm not an IP lawyer, so I can't speak with legal authority, but it seems to me that "Lynx" is a vague enough reference that they could reasonably claim to not be infringing on the country club, especially if they don't use any golf imagery in their logo (UPDATE: looks like they didn't). At least a lynx is a thing.

Don't know about the Greenjackets, but my suspicion is that as a private club, Augusta National doesn't see itself as a competitor to a minor league baseball team. Certainly seems reasonable to expect that they're after different audiences and different budgets.

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To me it's referencing a very important industry in the city. Racing could be referring to the drag races held at Lucas Oil raceway nearby, the number of drivers in all kind of racing have roots in Indiana, or the fact it's a huge industry that employs thousands in the area.

Again, good idea to avoid it for sure. But the idea they would be trying to steal existing history of the IMS is not true IMO. Mainly because the fanbases are as overlapping as golf and minor league baseball, and the racing industry in Indy is like the brewing industry in Milwaukee or the steel industry in Pittsburgh.

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To be clear, I wasn't talking about an overlap between golf players and baseball fans, but the baseball-going public and people who would buy memberships to Augusta National. Much wider spread, that.

But I'll take your word for the industry. Then maybe they could get away with it.

However, anything resembling bricks or the name "brickyard", as some have suggested, would obviously still be out. I suspect anything which could imply a connection with IMS would have to be carefully avoided.

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