Story Archive

Trademark Madness

In 2010, playing off the NCAA’s “March Madness” college basketball tournament, the Boston Globe launched a restaurant competition and called it “Munch Madness.” Now it wants to trademark the name — and the NCAA and its tournament’s licensing manager are objecting, saying consumers might be “confused” and the famous hoops contest’s trademark might be damaged. “Everyone knows what March Madness is,” said a lawyer for the New York Times Co., which owns the Globe, “and I don’t think our little restaurant contest is going to change that.” In reply, counsel for the trademark manager pointed out that the Times Company sued Huffington Post owner AOL over its use of the blog title “Parentlode”, which it argued sounded too much like the New York Times’s “Motherlode.” (AC/Boston Globe) ...Meanwhile, Yahoo! is suing Bibi Netanyahu, CBS Broadcasting is suing CVS/pharmacy, and the Republican Party is suing The New Republic.