Clik here to view.
Don’t these people have bigger things to worry about?
The Super Bowl just wrapped up in New Orleans, and by all accounts the event was a huge success (for everybody except the Kansas City Chiefs).
Security was at the top of everybody’s mind this week, just a few weeks after the horrific terrorist attack on Bourbon Street on New Year’s Day. But the city, state and the NFL seemed to have stepped up their security, with the help of a massive police and National Guard presence, and luckily things seemed to go off without a hitch.
Well, unless you’re one small New Orleans business…
Southern Sun is a local company started over 40 years ago by Bill Mullenix, which sells a single product: Hats featuring the fleur-de-lis, a symbol that has been associated with New Orleans since the Crescent City’s founding by French settlers. But the symbol goes back much further than that, being depicted on French coats of arms dating back to the Middle Ages.
Not only is the stylized lily symbol depicted on the flag of New Orleans (and several other cities around the country), but in 2008, Governor Bobby Jindal signed a bill making the fleur-de-lis an official symbol of the state of Louisiana.
But apparently the NFL thinks they own the fleur-de-lis now.
The trademark dispute arises from the logo of the New Orleans Saints – which is, of course, a fleur-de-lis. The NFL is extremely protective of any intellectual property associated with the league and the team, and for good reason: They’re a multi-billion dollar business, and they don’t want anyone to capitalize off of that business but themselves.
The league has several trademarks for stylized versions of the fleur-de-lis trademark in relation to the Saints, though the US Patent and Trademark Office website indicates that one of those logos is currently being challenged for cancelation.
And apparently the NFL thought that the fleur-de-lis logo on the Southern Sun hats was too similar to the fleur-de-lis logo that they’ve trademarked. I’ll let you be the judge of that:
Image may be NSFW.
Clik here to view.
According to NOLA.com, special agents with Homeland Security Investigations New Orleans and the Intellectual Property Rights Coordination Center showed up to the company’s warehouse this past week and confiscated nearly 2,000 hats for allegedly infringing on the NFL’s trademark.
Absolutely ridiculous.
Lindsay Mullenix, who took over the company after her father passed away, says that the fleur-de-lis logo on their hat was designed by a local artist who specifically sought to differentiate it from the Saints logo, and her attorney Fred Herman pointed out just how ridiculous this is that the NFL is trying to claim some kind of ownership of such a ubiquitous symbol in New Orleans:
“I can’t imagine that every fleur-de-lis symbol on any merchandise would be a protected trademark. The fleur-de-lis is a symbol of New Orleans and Louisiana. But we’ve seen these kinds of things before, and from my point of view, it is the heavy hand of the NFL.”
And he’s right. It’s not the first time the NFL has used these kind of intimidation tactics over the fleur-de-lis, which is again, pretty much a universal symbol down in New Orleans that’s featured on everything from t-shirts to daiquiri cups and even iron work in front of homes.
Back in 2010, the league tried to go after businesses for selling merchandise featuring the Saints slogan “Who Dat!” The only problem is, like the fleur-de-lis, “Who Dat” has been a part of New Orleans culture long before the NFL even existed, and long before the Saints adopted the slogan as their chant.
In response, the attorney general of Louisiana requested that the NFL clarify what ownership they were claiming over the slogan, and the league responded by admitting that they have no ownership of the fleur-de-lis, the colors black and gold, or the slogan “Who Dat.”
But apparently they didn’t care this past week, because Lindsay Mullenix says Homeland Security agents acting on behalf of the NFL confiscated nearly 2,000 hats from the company’s warehouse. And the worst part is that the agents actually tried to defend their seizures as national security operations:
“You have no idea who this person is, what they’re doing with your information or where the money is going. It could end up funding other illicit activity.”
Pretty sure the same could be said for my tax dollars that are going to fund the government.
Absolutely ridiculous.
The post Homeland Security Confiscates 2,000 Fleur-de-Lis Hats From Small New Orleans Business Because The NFL Claimed They Violated Their Trademark first appeared on Whiskey Riff.