12.06.2010

May I Endorse Something, Too?


At lunch, I could have sworn I heard a commercial on The Fan for mycomputercareer.com (or something like that) where "former Dallas Cowboy Cedric James" was doing the endorsing.  My radar first went off when I heard "NFL" and "Dallas Cowboys" because the NFL comes down hard on, and charges a fortune for, use of its trademark. (You'll see Cowboys like Jason Whitten endorse some product but the company will have him  introduce himself as "a professional football player" so as to avoid having to pay the NFL.)

But after I got past potential trademark violations, I began to wonder who Cedric James was. I'd never heard of him. Was he a member of the Dallas Cowboys? You bet!!!  Take a look at his career.


And we thought Dan Meredith was a legend!!!

It's like the computer company thought "let's find the  cheapest Dallas Cowboy we can and then have him say 'Dallas Cowboys' in our ad."  But I think they might be about to learn about trademark law.