#defendwhodat, indeed

who dat signswow, i bet the nfl didn’t realize what a can of woop-ass it was opening up, sending fleurty girl and storyville those cease & desist letters?

for my part, i’m here to tell ya, i’m going to keep making my little salvaged-wood-with-bottlecaps “who dat!” signs as long as people keep buying ’em. and if the nfl comes-a-knockin’, they can have their 10% of the 7 or 8 of these signs i’ve sold since i started making them at the beginning of the season. really. i can probably come up with the change.

but i think it’s all bullshit. they can and i’m sure have copyrighted and/or trademarked their saints’ specific stuff, like their particular fleur de lis, especially when used in conjunction with black and gold colors. and that’s legit. but unless someone is blatantly ripping off the very particular nfl-created saints merch – which i’m sure plenty of those stupid fucking t-shirt shops in the french quarter and in the french market are doing – then there shouldn’t be a problem.

“who dat” is not something the saints team says; it’s something the FANS say. and the nfl doesn’t own the fans. they know damn well it wouldn’t hold up in court, but they also know damn well that little guys (gals) like lauren thom (fleurty girl) can’t afford a big legal battle, so they feel comfortable going after her. but she’s smart, milking this for all the pr she can get, and rallying the who dat nation to her side. if the nfl chooses to go forward with this, they will have a pr nightmare on their hands, and be accused of dampening the spirits of the city who just got their groove back due to their team making it to the superbowl.

really, nfl, is this how you want it to play out? i really don’t think you do. but i guess we’ll see.

**in doing a simple trademark search via the us trademarks and patents office, i don’t see the nfl listed anywhere as having any claim to the term “who dat.” i see a few others listed, as pertains to specific products or usages of the term, but i don’t see the nfl listed.

update: this statement by the monistere brothers, the actual trademark holders of the term “who dat,” via their company who dat inc., was posted this evening. seems like this clears things up.

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