NFL Trademarks at the Supreme Court

At the United States Supreme Court this week, the NFL asserted its right to a merchandising monopoly- seeking to maintain its right to grant Reebok exclusivity to make hats with the logos of all 32 NFL teams, locking out American Needle, a privately held company in Illinois which had been making hats with NFL logos before 2000.

The justices seemed to have fun talking about sports.   Breyer talked about baseball instead of football because he knows that sport better.  Scalia talked about jerseys and helmets.  Sotomayor got serious, distinguishing between making money and competing on the sports fields.

The most surprising comment came from Michael Levy, counsel for the NFL, stating that “[T]rademarks aren’t worth anything.”

So what was all the fuss about if trademarked logos don’t have any value? The licensing revenue represents billions of dollars.

It’s really about the monolopy power of the NFL,  argued Drew Brees, starting quarterback for the New Orleans Saints  in an article in the Washington Post, “If the Supreme Court rules that the league’s 32 organizations constitute a single entity that is exempt from antitrust laws, players will lose this important leverage.” http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/01/07/AR2010010702947.html

Far be it from MapWise to weigh in on antitrust matters.

Respectfully, however, MapWise Software would like to correct Mr. Levy, the NFL’s counsel.  Trademarks do have value. They are icons for customers.  The football team trademarks are especially valuable because of  fan loyalty and billions in dollars of revenue.    Otherwise, this case would never had made it to the Supreme Court.