Thursday, January 28, 2010

Copyrighting and Trademarking the "Who Dat" Slogan

Word going around town these days is that folks who are selling stuff that has the phrase "Who Dat?" on it are being told to cease and desist by certain entities who claim proprietary rights over the phrase and any revenues generated from its usage.

I say to those entities: Screw You! If I were selling anything with the "Who Dat?" phrase on it, and if I were told to cease and desist under threat of a lawsuit, I'd tell that person to bring on the lawsuit and be prepared for a countersuit for punitive damages.

There's not a court nor a jury in this city that would ever recognize anyone's claim to own the "Who Dat?" phrase. First off, the phrase has been in the public domain for ages. Second, it belongs to Saints fans. We say it, we popularize it, we make it valuable. There's not an entity out there who can say they own the phrase because they invented it or created it. It's pure public domain stuff. Anyone creative enough to use it and profit from it, I say good for them. This is an instance where the rapaciousness of corporate greed (and the seediest, most pernicious side of capitalism) overreaches and sucks the very freedom out of community.

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