Giants neglect to trademark logo

It turns out that the Giants forgot to trademark their script "San Francisco" logo back when they started using it in 1993, allowing an east bay clothing maker to swoop in and register a nearly identical logo last spring. Oops. See the article for a comparison of the two logos.

Between this, the stuff dredged up during the Neukum "retirement" debacle, and the payroll embezzlement, I'm getting the impression that the front office is rather poorly run in general.

8 months ago Bhaakon 11 comments 0 recs |

Story-email Email Printer Print

Comments

The gogo logo looks like a kid trying to forge his parent’s signature on a report card full of fails. If I were Baer, I would be more concerned with the never ending absence of offense from the great majority of Sabean’s acquisitions, not some fruitcake windbreaker peddler.

by Roy Hobbs Jr on Oct 11, 2011 10:18 PM PDT reply actions

This is pretty dumb.

Brian Sabean strongly encourages you to disregard the drudgery of your employment responsibilities and join him in the consumption of spirituous libations.

by satyricrash on Oct 12, 2011 9:05 AM PDT up reply actions

But…fruitcake!

by Hyoton on Oct 12, 2011 9:39 AM PDT up reply actions

The other companies’ version is pretty awful.

Giant Dirtbags: :(
Jeremy Affeldt is terrible.

by Giant among Angels on Oct 12, 2011 6:04 AM PDT reply actions

The "S" is awful. The rest is similar enough that no one would notice without closely comparing them.

VAE PVTO DEVS FIO

by Bhaakon on Oct 12, 2011 4:18 PM PDT up reply actions

at least the front office was run better than Enron.

by bradleybear on Oct 12, 2011 3:53 PM PDT reply actions

wasn’t Enron extremely well run, until they got caught? Hence the title of the book: The Smartest Guys in the Room.

by Fresburg on Oct 24, 2011 3:39 PM PDT up reply actions

Certainly an oversight to not get the trademark

but read the full article— it sounds like (and this is my understanding of trademark law as well) the Giants still win as long as they can prove they’ve been continuously using the lovo since before Gogo trademarked it. In fact, as long as they can show that (and they probably can) it sounds like a pretty open and shut case.

Idolizing Robb Nen since 2002...

by Smoke on the Water on Oct 12, 2011 11:39 PM PDT reply actions

Yeah, you can’t just copyright a logo that someone else designed and has been using for a long time, and then sue them for using their own design. Courts aren’t going to look too kindly upon that.

by sycasey on Oct 14, 2011 9:57 PM PDT up reply actions

You can't forget to trademark anything.

If you’ve been using it as a logo or design or something that is unique, it is a trademark. You can choose to register your trademark or not, but whether you do or don’t doesn’t have much impact on restricting others from using it. If the other company is stupid enough to try to sue the Giants, the Giants could totally claim that this is frivolous and make the other company pay all their legal costs.

by ABIJXY on Oct 16, 2011 8:48 AM PDT reply actions

Only if you're the only one using it.

If your trademark is something as unremarkable as a cursive “San Francisco,” then it’s not particularly unique and there’s a good chance that similar logos are already in use, let alone may come in to use.

VAE PVTO DEVS FIO

by Bhaakon on Oct 16, 2011 2:47 PM PDT up reply actions