One of the dumbest things and worse decisions the Patriots organization has ever done

[PATRIOTSFANINPA]

You know as a huge lifetime Patriots fan I was totally shocked about the FO obtaining the trademark to 19-0 BEFORE the Super Bowl and giving the Giants even more motivation to play great - like they did.

It was maybe the dumbest decision the organization ever made and hard to understand,I guess its all about marketing an item and making lots of more money but it was obviously not worth it.

Next time you hear a guy in the Super Bowl or playoffs saying stuff like the Rams player did when they said 'Tonight begins a dynasty' or when the Steelers were making Super Bowl reservations prior to the AFCCG in 2004,Just remember this case is similar to that and showed a bit of disrespect to the Giants which has never happened before to my knowledge during the Kraft era,Normally we show high regard to the opponent and are quiet but things got out of hand and the trademark stunt did NOT help support respect for the SB opponent.

I am both saddened and a bit shocked this week by the teams lackluster play during the biggest game of the year AND off the field actions - It was so un-Patriotlike

I can't wait till the Pro Bowl is over so we can get on to the draft and look ahead to the 2008/2009 season and forget this horrid ending of what was expected to be joyous celebration .

With all this said ...
Dear Homers: Let the flaming begin.....

 

[Watson's IQ]

Re: One of the dumbest things and worse decisions the Patriots organization has ever

I guess I somewhat agree with your premise. It's different than the parade, and the 19-0 books, and things like that, since those are done from outside the organization and occur every year. That said, I'm not a copyright lawyer, and unless there's one on this board I'm really not sure about whether making the copyright in advance was necessary from a legal standpoint. Until I hear otherwise, I'm not going to rush to damn the organization for something they may well have had to do early for business/legal reasons.

 

[BadMoFo]

Re: One of the dumbest things and worse decisions the Patriots organization has ever

Team was trying to protect profits. Business-wise, it was a smart move, but we should have known how bad this would turn against us if anyone got wind of it, which is what happened with the Post story.

 

[QuinielaBox]

Re: One of the dumbest things and worse decisions the Patriots organization has ever

Seems to me there were a litany of mistakes made in the days leading up to the SB. We could not control Arlen Specter's grandstanding tactics.

The Boston media - Tomase - did he have to report the Walsh incident?

What about Menino and his victory parade?

What really went on at the Patriots practices and coaches meetings?

 

[MassPats38]

Re: One of the dumbest things and worse decisions the Patriots organization has ever

I would agree the trademark idea was dumb, and I suspect some employees in the organization lost their job over it. I can see why they did it (somebody would have trademarked 19-0 as soon as they got it, and then they pay whoever that is for rights to use it), but given the fact the players and coach were avoiding press material, it provided press from the organization itself.

And yes, I too look forward to next season.

 

[PATRIOTSFANINPA]

Re: One of the dumbest things and worse decisions the Patriots organization has ever

I guess I somewhat agree with your premise. It's different than the parade, and the 19-0 books, and things like that, since those are done from outside the organization and occur every year. That said, I'm not a copyright lawyer, and unless there's one on this board I'm really not sure about whether making the copyright in advance was necessary from a legal standpoint. Until I hear otherwise, I'm not going to rush to damn the organization for something they may well have had to do early for business/legal reasons.

My opinion of this is that it apparently became a making money issue with little regard for the opponent,You simply don't do things like that until the game is over and you WIN.

The only thing in life that is sure is Death and Taxes,I think the arrogance and ****yness of the organization during the oddest 2 week period of the Kraft era dropped down a few pegs on Sunday Night at 10pm,I hope we never see them do anything like that again after all this team has more class than nearly all the NFL and it was hard to swallow.

 

[NEPatriot]

Re: One of the dumbest things and worse decisions the Patriots organization has ever

the dumbest thing that Pats has ever made was to loose 07 SB game.

 

[Bill219]

Re: One of the dumbest things and worse decisions the Patriots organization has ever

You know as a huge lifetime Patriots fan I was totally shocked about the FO obtaining the trademark to 19-0 BEFORE the Super Bowl and giving the Giants even more motivation to play great - like they did.

It was maybe the dumbest decision the organization ever made and hard to understand,I guess its all about marketing an item and making lots of more money but it was obviously not worth it.

Next time you hear a guy in the Super Bowl or playoffs saying stuff like the Rams player did when they said 'Tonight begins a dynasty' or when the Steelers were making Super Bowl reservations prior to the AFCCG in 2004,Just remember this case is similar to that and showed a bit of disrespect to the Giants which has never happened before to my knowledge during the Kraft era,Normally we show high regard to the opponent and are quiet but things got out of hand and the trademark stunt did NOT help support respect for the SB opponent.

I am both saddened and a bit shocked this week by the teams lackluster play during the biggest game of the year AND off the field actions - It was so un-Patriotlike

I can't wait till the Pro Bowl is over so we can get on to the draft and look ahead to the 2008/2009 season and forget this horrid ending of what was expected to be joyous celebration .

With all this said ...
Dear Homers: Let the flaming begin.....

The front office did not trademark 19-0. They said on the pre game shows that there was some dude that trademarked "19-0" and the "Perfect Season" for a total of $400.00 and that if the Pats did go 19-0 then the Pats would have had to negotiate with this individual.

 

[bigjunk1]

Re: One of the dumbest things and worse decisions the Patriots organization has ever

I assume we are speaking of the current Pats organization and ownership...because there were a hell of a lot of dumber decisions made than this back in the bad old days.

And I can't see how trying to protect your profits is dumber than Chris Canty. (weei cues "Y'all ready for this!")

 

[PATRIOTSFANINPA]

Re: One of the dumbest things and worse decisions the Patriots organization has ever

People got fired over the trademark issue? - are you insane?

If you don't think Kraft had a part and full knowledge of the trademark deal then your beyond nuts - The owner definately knew and approved of the marketing approach which makes it as shocking as it is

And one other thing - There was no way on this earth that the media would not have found out about a Patriots business deal during the Super Bowl week,There are too many leaks and especially with the close scrutiny the team had all season.

 

[FunkyPats31]

Re: One of the dumbest things and worse decisions the Patriots organization has ever

If they didn't someone else would have, and then if the Pats *had* won, you wouldn't be buying your commemorative '19-0' shirts from the Patriots organization and supporting them, you'd be buying it from some dude in say, Florida, who had the presence of mind to trademark it before someone else. It's a business decision, nothing more.

 

[Watson's IQ]

Re: One of the dumbest things and worse decisions the Patriots organization has ever

My opinion of this is that it apparently became a making money issue with little regard for the opponent,You simply don't do things like that until the game is over and you WIN.

The only thing in life that is sure is Death and Taxes,I think the arrogance and ****yness of the organization during the oddest 2 week period of the Kraft era dropped down a few pegs on Sunday Night at 10pm,I hope we never see them do anything like that again after all this team has more class than nearly all the NFL and it was hard to swallow.

The Patriots are a business first, believe it or not. This reminds me of the early days of the internet, smart people made millions by registering websites that big companies would want to use, and those same companies had to pay massive amounts of money to secure the rights to those websites. Same thing goes for trademarks. Someone else would have done it first, and the Patriots would be paying them for the rights to use it.

The Patriots are a well run organization from top to bottom, and I'm not going to jump all over them for making smart business decisions even if they end up with egg on their face. I personally think you're overrating the impact things like this ultimately have on the game. If you think the Giants front 7 tried that much harder to sack Tom Brady because of some trademark issue (implying they wouldn't have tried just as hard otherwise, in the SUPER BOWL) than you don't understand the competitive spirit of professional athletes.

Gee, I really wanted to get up for the Super Bowl, but I didn't feel disrespected in any way, so I just hung back and let Tom Brady pick us apart.

 

[PATRIOTSFANINPA]

Re: One of the dumbest things and worse decisions the Patriots organization has ever

The Patriots are a business first, believe it or not. This reminds me of the early days of the internet, smart people made millions by registering websites that big companies would want to use, and those same companies had to pay massive amounts of money to secure the rights to those websites. Same thing goes for trademarks. Someone else would have done it first, and the Patriots would be paying them for the rights to use it.

The Patriots are a well run organization from top to bottom, and I'm not going to jump all over them for making smart business decisions even if they end up with egg on their face. I personally think you're overrating the impact things like this ultimately have on the game. If you think the Giants front 7 tried that much harder to sack Tom Brady because of some trademark issue (implying they wouldn't have tried just as hard otherwise, in the SUPER BOWL) than you don't understand the competitive spirit of professional athletes.

Gee, I really wanted to get up for the Super Bowl, but I didn't feel disrespected in any way, so I just hung back and let Tom Brady pick us apart.

Well theres countless posts in this forum every year about Bulletin Board material,this is one of them but instead came from OUR side,which is of course unusual

 

[MassPats38]

Re: One of the dumbest things and worse decisions the Patriots organization has ever

People got fired over the trademark issue? - are you insane?

If you don't think Kraft had a part and full knowledge of the trademark deal then your beyond nuts - The owner definately knew and approved of the marketing approach which makes it as shocking as it is

And one other thing - There was no way on this earth that the media would not have found out about a Patriots business deal during the Super Bowl week,There are too many leaks and especially with the close scrutiny the team had all season.

While I accept that Kraft may have known, exactly how momentous do you think the filing of a trademark application is that it would invoke the interaction of the owner himself? Do you think every copyright, patent and trademark application filing is media worthy? I give Kraft a little more credit than that, because to assume otherwise means the billion dollar man, lifetime Pats fan and individual who turned the Pats around had no clue that this act might result in some public backlash. How much revenue do you actually think this trademark would have generated? Would that pittance be worth risking the revenue from a victory?

 

[Watson's IQ]

Re: One of the dumbest things and worse decisions the Patriots organization has ever

Well theres countless posts in this forum every year about Bulletin Board material,this is one of them but instead came from OUR side,which is of course unusual

You know, I buy that kind of stuff in the season to a certain extent, because sometimes regular season games players can overlook or have trouble getting fired up for. But it's the Super Bowl. I really don't think the teams themselves need any additional motivation to win the game. I think most of that crap is really more interesting and controversial for the fans, 99% of the time.

 

[Pats726]

Re: One of the dumbest things and worse decisions the Patriots organization has ever

The front office did not trademark 19-0. They said on the pre game shows that there was some dude that trademarked "19-0" and the "Perfect Season" for a total of $400.00 and that if the Pats did go 19-0 then the Pats would have had to negotiate with this individual.

Do you have a link to this?? Just curious as to where how...

 

[Yehoodi]

Re: One of the dumbest things and worse decisions the Patriots organization has ever

Yah really dont have a problem with it, it just a tough call . . . I am a patent attorney and practice in the area of Patents and Trademarks, and all the Pats did was file and "intent to use" trademark. They wanted to fix their filing date as of 1/17/08. If they dont win, they withdrawn the application, if they win they use the mark and have the filing date of 1/17. This way no yahoos can come in and start to print shirts 19-0, etc, or worse yet some (smart) yahoo spending a few hundred dollars and filing his own TM application the week of the SB, then if the Pats win, hold the, hostage and sell them the TM for millions dollars or something. It no different than the tshirts being printed, or parades plan, if the teams looses then ship the shirts over seas and cancel the parade.

For political reason it may look bad but in reality is not really an issue, just smart business practice, unfortunately, TM application can be search at the PTO website and that how it was found . ..

 

[Pats726]

Re: One of the dumbest things and worse decisions the Patriots organization has ever

People got fired over the trademark issue? - are you insane?

If you don't think Kraft had a part and full knowledge of the trademark deal then your beyond nuts - The owner definately knew and approved of the marketing approach which makes it as shocking as it is

And one other thing - There was no way on this earth that the media would not have found out about a Patriots business deal during the Super Bowl week,There are too many leaks and especially with the close scrutiny the team had all season.

In the day of trash journalism looking for so much...it would be found..10 years ago BEFORE the net..it wouldn't have been known as quick...

 

[Mack Herron]

Re: One of the dumbest things and worse decisions the Patriots organization has ever

Yah really dont have a problem with it, it just a tough call . . . I am a patent attorney and practice in the area of Patents and Trademarks, and all the Pats did was file and "intent to use" trademark. They wanted to fix their filing date as of 1/17/08. If they dont win, they withdrawn the application, if they win they use the mark and have the filing date of 1/17. This way no yahoos can come in and start to print shirts 19-0, etc, or worse yet some (smart) yahoo spending a few hundred dollars and filing his own TM application the week of the SB, then if the Pats win, hold the, hostage and sell them the TM for millions dollars or something. It no different than the tshirts being printed, or parades plan, if the teams looses then ship the shirts over seas and cancel the parade.

For political reason it may look bad but in reality is not really an issue, just smart business practice, unfortunately, TM application can be search at the PTO website and that how it was found . ..

Thanks for the informed explanation. It is not as bad as it looks, but one has to suspect the lawyers did not anticipate how bad the team would looked. The team's reputation (and trademark) took a big hit. What was the impact on sales of merhcandise nationwide? Was this factored in, or did they take a short-sighted view of the business situation? How smart of a business man was Kraft here?

 

[Watson's IQ]

Re: One of the dumbest things and worse decisions the Patriots organization has ever

Thanks for the informed explanation. It is not as bad as it looks, but one has to suspect the lawyers did not anticipate how bad the team would looked. The team's reputation (and trademark) took a big hit. What was the impact on sales of merhcandise nationwide? Was this factored in, or did they take a short-sighted view of the business situation? How smart of a business man was Kraft here?

Couldn't disagree more. As he pointed out, this is standard business practice. The only place the Pats take a hit for this is in the minds of those who aren't capable of an ounce of critical thought.

The most overblown and obnoxious stories of the week by far were the "jumping the gun" stories, I swear I would rather have Gregg Easterbrook telling me bedtime stories about Spygate than read one more article or post about how the Patriots got ahead of themselves.