I Believe That We Will Win (the TM Rights)

A few weeks before World Cup fever gripped us all, my daughter and I attended her college orientation.  Although she is not attending the most rah-rah school (they don’t even have a football team), we were still taught some of the school’s college cheers.  I confess that this is the first time I ever heard “I…I believe…I believe that we will win!”

Now it seems that my daughter’s college, Tim Howard and scores of others could be sued for trademark infringement, for San Diego State University filed an application to register the trademark I BELIEVE THAT WE WILL WIN back in 2011.  Actually, the application is in the name of Aztec Shops, Ltd., a clothing store on the SDSU campus.  After rejections and a couple of inadvertent abandonments of the application, SDSU succeeded in getting the application approved, probably reciting this mantra for inspiration the entire time.  The application will be published for opposition on July 22, meaning that third parties who believe that they will be damaged by the registration of the mark can oppose the application.

Actually, SDSU’s application covers “Bottoms; Caps; Hats; Jackets; Shirts; Sweatshirts; T-shirts; Tops”, not “loud raucous chants at sporting events”, so in reality they would have difficulty stopping others from raising the roof with these cheers, and they are not likely to try.  Still, it will be interesting to see of some third parties file oppositions against the application, and what the outcomes will be.

Some background about the origin of the chant, as well as some recent tweets about its ownership (after Tim Howard’s rallying tweet on the morning of July 1, before the USA team’s agonizing defeat) appears here.

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This blog is back!

Hoping to get my interim posts moved over here at some point!