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Who Owns DFTBA? An Introduction to Trademarks

2013-12-03 · John · watch on YouTube · Nerdfighteria · explainer learning

John explains that the brothers could trademark 'Don't Forget to Be Awesome' to stop companies like Urban Outfitters using it, but won't, because trademarks cannot be enforced selectively and the phrase belongs to Nerdfighteria; the community is defined by its values, not its mottoes.

What is said

00:00:00 — Nerdfighters ask about the DFTBA rug at Urban Outfitters; other companies selling 'Don't Forget to Be Awesome' products

  • ★★★ John says Nerdfighters ask about the 'Don't Forget to Be Awesome' rug at Urban Outfitters: the brothers didn't license it, aren't paid, aren't happy, could stop it but won't. — 00:00:00 · DFTBA, Nerdfighteria
  • ★★ John lists other companies using DFTBA: a Kate Spade wallet, a Hobby Lobby poster, a dELiA*s T-shirt, an Aeropostale ad, items from Pier One and Ron Jon Surf Shop. — 00:00:17 · DFTBA

00:00:32 — Origin of the phrase (Katie, 2007), popularized by Nerdfighters; the brothers could trademark it and would kind of like to

  • ★★ John says the brothers did not invent 'Don't Forget to Be Awesome'; so far as he knows his friend Katie invented it in 2007. (hedged) — 00:00:32 · DFTBA
  • ★★ John says the brothers popularized the phrase: it had almost no Google hits or searches before Nerdfighters began using it. — 00:00:39 · Google, Nerdfighteria, DFTBA
  • ★★ Because the phrase is closely associated with them, John says the brothers could easily hire a lawyer, trademark it and send Urban Outfitters a cease-and-desist letter. — 00:00:44
  • ★ John jokes the letter could tell Urban Outfitters to stop selling the doormat or publicly apologize for firing its Swedish employees when they tried to unionize. (playful) — 00:00:49
  • ★★ John would kind of like to: he doesn't want corporations co-opting Nerdfighteria and is tired of emails asking why slogans are at Hobby Lobby, which until a month ago refused to carry menorahs. (hedged) — 00:01:00 · Nerdfighteria

00:01:15 — Trademarks cannot be enforced selectively, so the brothers won't trademark the phrase, which belongs to Nerdfighteria; buy from Nerdfighter makers or DFTBA.com

  • ★★★ John explains that trademarks cannot be enforced selectively: trademarking DFTBA would mean telling everyone to stop, including Nerdfighters who make and sell things on Etsy. — 00:01:15 · Nerdfighteria
  • ★★ John says he would have to send cease-and-desist letters to makers of a spoon, Hanklerfish greeting cards and a DFTBA scarf, which he doesn't want: he wants such things to exist and to buy them. — 00:01:35
  • ★★ If enforced selectively, companies could argue the phrase isn't really trademarked, so stopping Urban Outfitters' rugs would mean also stopping Nerdfighters' scarves, which John calls bananas. — 00:01:46
  • ★★★ John says the phrase belongs not to the brothers but to Nerdfighteria, so they won't trademark it, since that would claim ownership of something not really theirs. — 00:02:07 · DFTBA, Nerdfighteria
  • ★ John accepts that the brothers will occasionally have to deal with companies trying to co-opt the Nerdfighter community's sayings. — 00:02:18 · Nerdfighteria
  • ★★ John suspects most Nerdfighters will keep making their own DFTBA stuff, buying from independent creators, or buying at DFTBA.com. (hedged) — 00:02:23 · Nerdfighteria, DFTBA Records, DFTBA
  • ★★ John says royalties from Nerdfighter merchandise at DFTBA.com are always shared with the Nerdfighters who design it. — 00:02:27 · DFTBA Records, Nerdfighteria

00:02:36 — Genericized trademarks: aspirin, escalator, thermos; Nintendo and Google

  • ★★ John explains that a trademark weakened by widespread use can become genericized, every brand's nightmare. — 00:02:39
  • ★★ John says aspirin was once Bayer's trademark, as Advil is for its ibuprofen; because the trademark weakened as everyone used the word, anyone can now call their aspirin aspirin. — 00:02:44
  • ★★ John says the same happened to escalator and thermos, and nearly to Nintendo, which marketed the phrase 'game console', and Google, which carefully says 'searching' rather than 'googling'. — 00:03:05 · Google

00:03:21 — The community is defined by its values, which don't lose meaning when shared; sign-off

  • ★★★ John contrasts companies terrified of genericization with the community, which is defined not by its name or mottoes but by the values they represent, values that don't lose meaning when shared. — 00:03:21 · Nerdfighteria, Google > «those values don't become less meaningful when they are shared.»

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