• Follow us on Twitter @buckeyeplanet and @bp_recruiting, like us on Facebook! Enjoy a post or article, recommend it to others! BP is only as strong as its community, and we only promote by word of mouth, so share away!
  • Consider registering! Fewer and higher quality ads, no emails you don't want, access to all the forums, download game torrents, private messages, polls, Sportsbook, etc. Even if you just want to lurk, there are a lot of good reasons to register!

tOSU trademark issues with BP

Jump to latest Follow Reply
Sort by date Sort by votes
Buckeyeskickbuttocks said:
Official?

I don't mean to sound off, but there isn't an official response.
Click to expand...
Sorry, I will formulate a "formal" response, and make sure all of the mods and others have given it their approval before sending it back in.

Bucknuts t-shirt info please.

Btw, I have also contacted Jim Davidson from the ozone as we have communicated in the past about this, and am waiting to hear his comments on this matter.
 
Upvote 0
Ratboy18 said:
does that mean a press pass for the spring game is out of the question?
Click to expand...
Alan - got an answer?


Ratboy18 said:
Is there a disclaimer anywhere that identifies BP as a fan site that is not affiliated with the usual suspects? (YEP - IN BOLD AT THE BOTTOM)

That is how people like TheOSUStore get away with crap.
Click to expand...
You could stop right there. The Ohio State Athletic & Merchandising folk knew about this site long before the letter was sent I bet my bottom dollar on that one. This (I hope) ends up as a storm in a teacup generated by a busy-body know-nothing bureaucrat.

Ratboy18 said:
Can the T-Shirt movement be taken underground and conducted via PM?
Click to expand...
Bet that won't be needed, if all it has on 'em is Buckeye Planet, the leaf and football. Plus your gem of an idea below makes much of the nasty legalese go away.
Ratboy18 said:
Can't the argument be made that since all flavors of Ohio sports (HS,NCAA, and PRO) that the "Buckeye" in Buckeye Planet is representative of the Buckeye State?
Click to expand...
Why yes Ratboy18 _ I think such an argument can and should be made.

Did Ohio State get the copyright on any and all names with the word Buckeye in them - NO, they did not. Ergo, get Buckeye Planet copyrighted and then talk lawyer on lawyer with the Merchandising folk.
 
Upvote 0
BuckeyeFROMscUM said:
Sorry, I will formulate a "formal" response, and make sure all of the mods and others have given it their approval before sending it back in.

Bucknuts t-shirt info please.

Btw, I have also contacted Jim Davidson from the ozone as we have communicated in the past about this, and am waiting to hear his comments on this matter.
Click to expand...
It's cool, I figured you didn't mean "official" official.. as I said, I didn't mean to sound like I was jumpin down your throat.
 
Upvote 0
Make sure that the response letter is written by a lawyer, or at least with the consultation of one. I would also begin to do InterNIC searches on suitable replacement domain names, and/or inquire as to what it's going to take to get them to leave this one alone.

My suspicion reading the tone of that letter is that they may not let go until they have the .com in their hands. :( Like I said before, I am not an expert on this, but I've had to deal with trademark issues in my private business (those have involved movie studios), and it can get ugly.

I'll run this by my business partner who has managed to keep Paramount's wolves at bay in the past and get a second opinion.
 
Upvote 0
Here's another thing... if we remove the website address (which is hardly crucial to the coolness of the t-shirt, merely teh marketing), it change the whole purpose of the shirt.

Buckeyeplanet.com seems like a much stronger case for supporting thier claims, whereas the buckeyeplanet logo by itself should not be able to be banned.

 
Upvote 0
BuckeyeFROMscUM said:
someone please give me details about the bucknuts.com t-shirt.

I will formulate an official response and run it by everyone here before sending it back. We have 3 days to respond, no need to be hasty here
Click to expand...
here's a little something i threw together. it took me a while to get the wording just right. let me know what you all think.

fuck_you.jpg
 
Upvote 0
Ok....chill folks...

I will talk with andy tomorrow and see what the deal is...or this downing guy...i've never met/spoken with downing....i am guessing he is a legal counsel...

first impression i have is that if the money goes to a "charity" all is cool...

so....start thinking about bp shirts on the front with "special wish" or something on the back.....there is no way they can turn their back on that...

of course the charity gets a portion of the money, but it is a win-win...

ill inform more tomorrow..

do you all trust me?????
 
Upvote 0
I do trust you, however I still feel as tho we should have a response in the near future. Make sure you get a response tomorrow, and message us ASAP either way so we can respond to these guys.

I would hate for this to dwindle and be the reason BP is shut down, if that horrendous event can be circumvented by any route.
 
Upvote 0
Alan, I trust you. :)

I made a quick phone call to my partner on the general topic of copyright/trademark infringements, and there is a lot of precedent for what this legal guy is doing. Regardless of whether this site sells a product or makes any money, they CAN go after the domain name and the owners for "damages". It's completely stupid, but as I was mentioning movie studios, they go after non-profit fan clubs and groups all the time and win.

This is something that's going to have to be handled diplomatically, and not through a legal process, because OSU is a 900lb gorilla here and we're not.

My take is to let Alan work his magic. :biggrin:
 
Upvote 0
buckfromscum.....i admire your intensity.....but, typical conversation with andy geiger is that i leave a vm for him and he gets back to me about two days later...so be patient...

i really think a james/stephanie speilman back of the shirt can take off....i will call chris speilman tomorrow...

can you guys trust me that i am working this the next few days???? this wont happen in 12 hours...
 
Upvote 0
Alan, make it clear that:
1) We designed the logo so taht it would not include any OSU trademarked logos or phrases
2) We contacted tOSU's licensing dept multiple times trying to obtain a license and were basically fed a generic response of "no"
3) We did NOT move forward with this project at all
4) We have NOT generated any revenue, and definitely have not produced any shirts

Alan I understand... maybe our conversation can be "what should my response be for now?"

We need to acknowledge their email within the 3 day deadline they demanded.

I have a few thoughts, but I'll leave the floor open to what we should focus on in this email, as we need to be very political and not concede ground before we have to do so.
 
Upvote 0
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top