Adidas Opposes ‘Black Lives Matter’ Trademark Application, Then Quickly Runs Away
from the retreat! dept
Adidas is not exactly unknown in the seven circles of trademark insanity hell. The company most famously is a jealous defender of its vaunted “3 slanted stripes” branding. It takes that protective stance to ridiculous extremes, including going after an eSports league for having the “E” in question be three stripes, or suing to hell other brands that have dared to sell apparel or shoes with a number of stripes that doesn’t equal 3.
It was only a few years ago that Adidas was actually looking to expand its trademark rights on its very, very creative 3 parallel lines branding such that it would hold the mark for them if “applied to the product in whichever direction.” And most recently, the company made the very masochistic decision to oppose a trademark application for the Black Lives Matter Global Network Foundation, despite that group’s proposed mark being nothing like Adidas’.
Adidas had told the trademark office in a Monday filing that the Black Lives Matter Global Network Foundation’s yellow-stripe design so closely resembles its own famous three-stripe mark that it is “likely to cause confusion”.
It sought to block the group’s application to use the design on goods that the German sportswear maker also sells, such as shirts, hats and bags.
Now, lest you think Adidas has some super valid reason to be this concerned about a trademark application for an organization that in no way competes with it commercially, well, here is the proposed mark from the BLM organization.
Those three stripes you see at the bottom of that logo are what Adidas said was so similar to its own trademarks that it would cause confusion in the public. Now, if you can look at that logo and tell me you think it has anything at all to do with Adidas, then see me after class because it’s high time you saw a therapist.
Which is why it is entirely unsurprising that Adidas dropped the entire thing and ran away at the slightest bit of pushback.
A source close to the company said the rapid about-turn was triggered by concern that people could misinterpret Adidas’ trademark objection as criticism of Black Lives Matter’s mission.
I mean, maybe? But only because, again, the trademark claim was so completely weak to begin with. If the BLM movement had put together a trademark application that essentially mimicked the Adidas logo, the company would be well within its rights, and I would cheer it on, in defending its trademarks through an opposition.
But in this case, it appears that the company was being fairly over-protective of those same rights and then decided to blame fear of the BLM movement for its retreat. Which is cowardice, in my view.
Filed Under: black lives matter, three stripes, trademark
Companies: adidas
Comments on “Adidas Opposes ‘Black Lives Matter’ Trademark Application, Then Quickly Runs Away”
“Then Quickly Runs Away”
Apparently not as fast as their shoes.
A likely misconception, but an understandable one
A source close to the company said the rapid about-turn was triggered by concern that people could misinterpret Adidas’ trademark objection as criticism of Black Lives Matter’s mission.
An argument that isn’t exactly refuted by how pathetic trying to claim three lines on top of each other is trademark infringement.
Do I think their filing was fueled by opposition to BLM? No, not really.
Could I see how someone could get that impression based upon how laughably bad their argument is, to the point that it reads more like an excuse than a valid objection? All too easily.
Whoever filed that opposition really needs to be fired and replaced because they are not doing the company any favors and if this is any indication of the usual quality of their work they’re doing more harm than good in their employment with the company.
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What’s good for the goose is good for the gander, after all.
If Adidas wants to argue that a moron in a hurry can mistake BLM’s trademark for Adidas’ trademark, then it stands to reason that a moron in a hurry can mistake Adidas’ opposition to BLM’s application as opposition to the BLM movement itself.
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They’ll be fine, i dont know of any black people who wear adidas merch
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Ignoring the blatant racism in your reply, RUN DMC made a song called “My Adidas”, and there are many, many more black people who wear adidas if you live near many black people like I do and just look at their clothes.
Geez, you’re racist and dumb, but I repeat myself. I regret even stooping to your level.
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Yeah, you can't trademark "3 stripes, no matter the arrangement"
I mean fuck BLM, they’re literally communist racists but the the logos have nothing in common. You can’t just say “our logo has 3 stripes, therefore all other logos with 3 stripes are invalid” that’s not how that works.
That’s about as sane as GW pretending they own “space marine”.
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“BLM, they’re literally communist racists”
incorrect
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you’re literally a Nazi, or an asshole, take your pick.
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I’d argue that all Nazis are assholes, but not all assholes are Nazis.
Hmmm. Doesn’t Monster’s logo have 3 parallel (ish) lines in their logo? Is their a way we can convince each that the other is infringing on their mark? I mean I would totally confuse any random 3 parallel lines for the claw marks of a monster[1]. Further more, this would greatly enrich “Big Popcorn”. With all the recent hand wringing about “Big Tech”, “Big Popcorn” definitely needs a hand.
[1] To clarify: only in fever dreams or similar.
Re: 3 lines
Just wait until someone in Adidas’ legal department realizes that the “menu” symbol is 3 parallel lines.
III in any direction
” expand its trademark rights on its very, very creative 3 parallel lines branding such that it would hold the mark for them if “applied to the product in whichever direction.”
Wait until BIG Cricket strikes back, or Roman clock makers.
Because of this, I will inform every person I interact with that addidas is an actively racist company, until there is any push back against the law firms and internal executives that green lit this, that is the message they have strongly sent out
The 38th Parallel are sooo screwed, except for the 2 remaining that will be safe
Next they’ll be suing Ethiopia over the name of the capital city.
Search for “aldidas”
lol, nice lookin footwear