IANAL but I watch wrestling and people trademark a lot of things there. For example, Chris Jericho this year trademarked “The Ocho.”

Now you may be thinking, “Wait, surely ESPN has a trademark on that, right?”

Here’s the thing: Jericho trademarked it within the context of pro wrestling. Look at the trademark documents for “Charm City” and you’ll see similar qualifiers about it being in relation to football.

Essentially, they were looking to cease people from making purple “Charm City football” shirts which make profits while trying to circumvent the Ravens name. This wouldn’t give them the right to send a cease-and-desist to say Charm City Cakes or Charm City Meadworks. However, note that they got rejected because it was just “geographically descriptive” - essentially, the Patent Office said you can’t trademark a place’s name or existing nickname.

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I don't know, man. Unlike "THE" Ohio State University, it's not like the Ravens were even the originators of the term. It's a nickname coined at least a hundred years ago if I'm not mistaken, and they're just trying to co-opt it as a trademark despite its use in the public domain for a long time.

I don't think they get granted this. There are already so many other businesses that could have a claim to this trademark before the Ravens.

And my question is…have the ravens done that? There’s a ravens electrical, bad birds everything, half the businesses use ravens colors as part of their trade dress…but I haven’t heard of the Ravens sending out cease and desist letters. Has anyone been stopped by the team for infringement? Everyone is bringing up the ‘Hon’ thing, but my recollection was that that business had been involved in multiple litigations before that application.

Also, the application seems pretty explicitly focused on football-oriented gear. Even if the items themselves are not football in nature, the application only applies to items used to promote a football team. So is there a Charm City semi-pro team that would be put out by this, or a business putting out faux Ravens gear using Charm City that they are targeting? I just don’t see this as a broad attack on the city’s identity.

100% this place really needs to go

Unlike Denise, whose cafe had terrible food, nobody will care because they don't want to piss off a football team and have them leave again.

It's from that scene in John Waters classic "Here Comes Trouble"

C'mon man, check my flair. I live in the city. You seriously think that the only possible way that someone wouldn't love this poorly photoshopped atrocity is if they lived outside of city limits?

Oh for sure it could be any number of things i agree. But highly unlikely is meth.

Possibly emphatamines or coccaine but actual meth use is almost unheard of in Baltimore. Im sure it exists in single cases or from out of towners but is really rare.

Your wife doesn’t like it, but if these were available for purchase I’d buy a box of them. 😂

I am sorry, this utopian view is divorced from how things actually get done in the world. Essentially, one of the things that most IP lawyers will tell you (if you own a TM) is that you need to "police" your trademark to ensure it remains yours... effectively, you need to send and document cease and desist letters to anyone who infringes on your TM (and sue those who ignore it).

Love you too!

Well hello to you too!

Read my mind.

Genuine Question - do the Ravens have a history of enforcing their trademarks locally? Because I feel like I’ve seen more than a few businesses with infringing names and trade dress, and I’ve never heard of any sort of takedown action by the team.

On the other hand, if the NFL decided to do a City Jersey promotion, like what the NBA does, they would insist that the Ravens have secured the permission or rights first. Because people will squat on trademarks to get a payout from an NFL team.

I’m just saying, as stewards of the trademark, there are many worse options than the Ravens.

The Baltimore Romans have bigger problems and don’t need this headache

Obvious county dweller is obvious.

In other news, traffic jams on Boston Street will be increasing 10-fold.

My comment has nothing to do with legalities and what they may get the rights to do. It has to do with how quickly the public can turn on you if you try to co-opt and take control of something that is essentially a public term of endearment. Whiting successfully got the trademark to “Hon,” but it didn’t stop everyone from hating her.

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Bro this sucks. Maybe take more than 10 seconds on it. It's hideous. Smashing together a few hacky references to Baltimore doesn't necessarily mean you've hit a home run, it still takes a bit of artistry and skill to make something worthwhile.

Bad idea hon.

“Word mark,” good luck.

That might be a problem with the several local companies that have “charm city” in their name