From the Hotline

By Teri Henning, General Counsel
Pennsylvania Newspaper Association

Q: Can an advertisement use the Pittsburgh Steelers logo or the term Pittsburgh Steelers? What about "Superbowl"? Does it matter how the terms are used in the ad ("Good Luck Steelers" vs. "Come to our Superbowl party and win free prizes")?

A: There is some potential risk in any use (without permission) of the term Superbowl, any NFL team name, or any team's logo. The NFL and the individual teams own federally registered trademarks for the Superbowl and associated terms (e.g. "Super Sunday"), the team names, nicknames and logos. Without permission from the trademark owner, an advertiser cannot legally use these words or logos in advertisements.

That being said, the risk seems relatively small for an advertiser that merely wants to wish a team good luck. The level of risk increases when the advertiser uses a protected trademark for promotional or revenue-raising purposes. The risk is highest when the use suggests some (false) connection between the advertiser and the Superbowl, or where the use could be viewed as harming the value of the trademark. The NFL has aggressively protected its trademarks, including filing lawsuits against the Web site operators of superbowlhomes.com (used to rent homes to those visiting Tampa for the Superbowl) and NFLtoday.com (which included information relating to gambling).

Instead of using the terms "Superbowl" or "Super Sunday" or “Go Steelers” in an advertisement, an advertiser may want to consider: "The Big Game in Detroit" or "The Big Game on February 5" or "Go Pittsburgh.”

Use this link to the Headlines & Deadlines archive of Teri Henning's weekly 'From the Hotline' columns. 

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