Don’t know if you’ve caught this but our illustrious and successful governing body have taken Wembley FC to court over use of the word Wembley on their crest. Fucking joke. The FA won an IP rights claim and Wembley have had to pay costs
I think the FA are dog shit because their number one priority should be making England good again. We’ve been shit for 50 years and steadily getting worse and the FA want to concern themselves with this
Ridiculous
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Joke
Sort out the national football team you litigious morons, but you can’t can you, because that might require doing some work or even knowing what you are doing.
http://www.wembleyfc.com/trademark-issue-with-wembley-stadium-the-fa/
"In 2012 the club registered the trademark, with a lion’s head on a shield beneath the word “Wembley”, to cover branding on goods, such as clothes and alcoholic drinks. The FA, which failed to object when the trademark was filed, is now blocked from selling certain Wembley-branded merchandise in countries across Europe."
Why would a club from the Spartan South Midlands League Premier Division require a trademark to cover clothing and alcoholic drinks unless it was to ride on the back of Wembley / The FA's intellectual property? Why should the FA be stopped selling across Europe because a club from the Spartan South Midlands League Premier Division has trademarked "Wembley"?
I'm all for supporting the underdog, but broadly when that underdog is hard done by - this seems to me to be a little "playful" on the part of the team from Wembley, potentially looking to extract some value, directly or indirectly, from the FA. I sense that, notwithstanding the FAs inability to object in the first place, the minnows are perhaps not the innocent "put upon" party they are purporting to be.
Bear in mind this is the club that were prepared to undermine the essence of the FA Cup and play ex pro's instead of their own team to get Budweiser sponsorship. I cant say I blame them for making the most of their name / geography, but they clearly have a Machiavellian edge to them:-
BBC Website - June 2012
"Non-league Wembley FC have recruited former internationals Ray Parlour, Martin Keown, Graeme Le Saux, Claudio Caniggia and Brian McBride to play in their FA Cup campaign this season.
The north London side have hired David Seaman as goalkeeping coach and former England boss Terry Venables as technical advisor.
Parlour, 39, said: "I've always believed grassroots football is essential to the lifeblood of the game.
"So I jumped at the chance."
All five players have come out of retirement to play for Wembley FC, who are in the ninth tier of English football. The club have agreed a sponsorship deal with Budweiser, which is in the first of a three-year deal as sponsor of the FA Cup".
And for me the wider issue is this is the sort of shit they want to put time and money into, yet are happy to serve up a mediocre national football team for the past few years
How is a place name the Intellectual Property of the FA
There are a number of things that The FA should be concentrating on at the moment. Encouraging sport at a 'grass-roots' level, trying to make the national team competitive and working with The Football League to ensure that undesirables don't get their claws on our clubs. It strikes me that they aren't doing well on any of these fronts. They don't even want to consider the last one, because they are so happy to jump into bed with anyone who might make them a few florins they'll turn no-one away. Someone on another thread wrote the other day that they hate what our game has become. I feel exactly the same.
Gosh, lucky I didn't go down the morally indignant route!