[Infowarrior] - First NHL rule for fans: Don't mention the NHL

[Richard Forno]

NHL Says It's Infringing To Use The Keyword NHL In Your App About The NHL

from the descriptive-uses-anyone? dept

After recently posting about the NHL's over aggressiveness in claiming that a car dealership saying, "Go Canucks Go!" in its window was infringing, we were contacted by Andrea Dulko, who let us know about her experience. She had created an iOS app called Red Light District, which provides news, highlights and analysis concerning NHL hockey. It's basically an aggregator of information about the NHL. However, Apple forwarded her a complaint, saying that by simply using NHL as a keyword, it was infringing on the NHL's trademark. To put it mildly, this is ridiculous. The use was descriptive and accurate, and there's no likelihood of confusion. No proverbial "moron in a hurry" is going to see a simple app with NHL news and assume it must be from the NHL itself. Either way, Dulko decided to pull the keyword, but she also more or less stopped updating the app. Congratulations, NHL, on taking the fun out of fans promoting you.

http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20110507/00584314195/nhl-says-its-infringing-to-use-keyword-nhl-your-app-about-nhl.shtml