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NFL blitzes Bakersfield party plan
Group admonished for using trademark, charging admission
| Thursday, Jan 31 2008 10:43 PM
Last Updated: Thursday, Jan 31 2008 10:31 PM
e-mail: jevans@bakersfield.com
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The NFL has sacked a group of Bakersfield senior citizens for their use of its trademark "Super Bowl."
The billion-dollar football league informed The Greens at Seven Oaks -- a gated 404-home 55-and-older community in southwest Bakersfield -- that it was violating various mandates by advertising a "Super Bowl" party on Sunday with a suggestion that each person attending pay $6.50.
The NFL owns the trademark to the Super Bowl and forbids businesses or groups from charging admission to watch the game "for commercial purposes," according to sports attorney and copyright expert Jerry Reisman in a Long Island Business News article.
The NFL won this battle against this local group of senior citizens that might number 150 at Sunday's party, which will go on.
But concessions have been made.
"We're now referring to this as 'a football viewing gathering.' We're not even going to let people say 'Super Bowl' at the party," said Margaret Campbell, president of the Greens at Seven Oaks homeowners association.
"This is just a bunch of old folks wanting to watch a football game, for crying out loud," said Betty Moore, a resident in the Greens. "And the NFL gets involved. You'd think they'd have bigger fish to fry than with us."
Tongue firmly in cheek, Campbell added: "Hopefully we will avoid being raided by the men in blue from the Bakersfield Police Department."
This all started in September, when the homeowners group announced plans for a Super Bowl party -- using those words -- with a suggested $6.50 per person charge to defray the cost of refreshments.
Someone -- Campbell said she doesn't know who -- informed the NFL of the group's plans.
Fliers informing the residents of the planned party were printed in December or early January, Campbell said. The NFL received a copy of the flier, which was included with a letter on NFL stationery saying that the get-together could not use the words "Super Bowl" or have any admission charge.
Campbell said no money will be accepted from those attending Sunday's party.
Campbell said she doesn't know who informed the NFL about the party. "We're looking at this as a pure misunderstanding," she said.