Amid Super Bowl hoopla, fight over 'Who Dat'

Who owns "Who Dat?"

Some T-shirt makers are asking that question after they were hit with cease-and-desist letters from the NFL demanding that they stop selling shirts with the traditional cheer of New Orleans Saints fans. The National Football League says the shirts infringe on a legal trademark it owns. Separately, two brothers and longtime Saints fans claim they own the phrase, which was around before the long-downtrodden team's inception in 1966. The chant _ "Who dat say dey gonna beat dem Saints" _ is often shortened to "Who Dat" on shirts and signs and has been a mainstay at the Superdome since the 1980s. Saints fans, still jubilant after the Saints' win over the Minnesota Vikings for their first Super Bowl appearance, have voiced their dismay on radio talk shows, blogs and Web site posts. Many say it's something that simply can't be owned. "How can they put a trademark on something that's been around for 150 years?" said Robert Lauricella, a 50-year-old oil field sales representative. "Just because the Saints have made the Super Bowl, why does everybody have to make a buck?"

Shirts bearing the Saints cheer are big business as the team prepares for the big game against the Indianapolis Colts in Super Bowl XLIV on Feb. 7 in Miami. Lauren Thom, owner of the Fleurty Girl T-shirt shop in New Orleans, said Thursday that she recently received a letter from the NFL demanding that she quit selling "Who Dat" shirts. "I don't mind paying royalties," Thom said. "I just don't know who owns 'Who Dat' or whether it's in the public domain." The NFL doesn't cut much slack when it believes it owns a trademark. This case is no exception. In an e-mail, league spokesman Brian McCarthy said the NFL has sent a handful of letters in the past year asking vendors to stop selling "Who Dat" merchandise. The unlicensed shirts led fans to believe the Saints endorsed the product, he said. "This helps protect the local businesses that are selling legitimate Saints merchandise and also the local printers that are making the licensed Saints apparel," he said. Meanwhile, WhoDat Inc., controlled by longtime Saints fans and brothers Sal and Steve Monistere, also claims rights to the phrase. In 1983, Steve Monistere produced the song "Who Dat Say They Gonna Beat Dem Saints" with Aaron Neville and several Saints players.

In a statement Thursday, WhoDat Inc. said that before that recording, there were no branded items with the motto. The brothers said the company has the only federal trademark for "Who Dat." Steve Monistere said he and his brother were at the Saints' first game in 1967 and have been fans through all the ups and downs _ mostly downs, of course. Storyville shop co-owner Gabriel Harvey pulled his "Who Dat" shirts after getting letters from the NFL and WhoDat Inc. "It seems unclear who, if anyone, owns it," Harvey said. "A lot of people believe it belongs to the city and the people." Two members of Louisiana's congressional delegation _ Republican Sen. David Vitter and Democratic Congressman Charlie Melancon _ took public umbrage at the NFL.
Vitter wrote NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell, urging the league to concede that "Who Dat" is in the public domain. Otherwise, Vitter said he will print and sell T-shirts with "WHO DAT say we can't print Who Dat!" on them. "Please either drop your present ridiculous position or sue me," Vitter wrote. Melancon provided a link _ headed "No One Owns WHO DAT" _ on his Twitter page to a petition encouraging the NFL to back off. The "Who Dat" chant's origins are somewhat murky. Some historians say it came about in the days of late 19th-century minstrel shows and later showed up in vaudeville routines. In 1937's "A Day at the Races," the Marx Brothers perform a number _ in blackface _ called "Who Dat Man." "Who Dat" also is used in a 1938 MGM cartoon _ now seldom seen because of its racially offensive nature _ called "Swing Wedding," which featured frog caricatures of black entertainers such as Ethel Waters, the Mills Brothers, Louis Armstrong and Cab Calloway. It's been yelled at high school and college games, and fans of the Cincinnati Bengals are known to chant "Who Dey?" Glenn Lunney, a Tulane University Law School professor specializing in intellectual property, said a trademark is different from a copyright or patent and doesn't necessarily have to be original. For example, computer and iPod manufacturer Apple trademarked the familiar, centuries-old fruit, he said. "You can take a word and by applying it to goods or services get people to think about your goods or services," and get commercial rights, he said. The NFL would likely argue it has a valid trademark because "Who Dat" is so strongly associated with the Saints, he said. In a similar case, bookstores around the University of Wisconsin sold "Bucky Badger" T-shirts royalty-free for years _ until the university trademarked the mascot itself in the late 1980s and won its case in court, Lunney said. As for Thom, she said several New Orleans attorneys have offered free legal help. And how about the WhoDat Inc. guys? They "were nice" about the situation, Thom said _ "they said we should market the shirts together and make more money together."

Real Online Degrees

I have been getting calls from different universities here in the states. They were offering me an online degree if ever I have the interest in going back to school. Yes I do have but not right at this moment. Probably when our baby is old enough, i might take the option in going back to school. Their packages are really interesting though but sometimes it makes me think if it is really a real online degrees. Well, I can't help it not to give them the benefit of the doubt because there are so many scams around. I did check them online and so far they are legit but I just don't have the time right now. I just gave birth to our first child and as a first time mom I want to be there in every growth development of my child. But who knows one day, if I all the time in the world, I would definitely go back to school and get another degree.

New Orleans mayor needs a Super Bowl ticket

Wouldn't you think the politically correct NFL would take care of two key politicians for the Super Bowl? Specifically, with game tickets for the mayors of the two cities sending teams? That's not the case for New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin, whose said his best bet to attend so far is paying $800 for a seat in the nosebleed section. That prompted Nagin to tell radio station WBOK "I'll have to bring a handkerchief." The $800 ticket will come from the Saints' block of tickets, if Nagin goes that route. Nagin said he was surprised no one accounted for the mayors. "But I just thought that as mayor of the city I would go to the (Super Bowl) as a representative of the city and of the Saints, and it wouldn't be an issue," the mayor said. "But maybe they've got some things they've got to work out, so we'll see. I'm hopeful that it's going to work out." Added Nagin: "Some people seem to forget I come from the business environment . . . So I got contacts at ESPN, USA TODAY, you name it. So I'm going to work it out." Sorry to disappoint you, Mr. Mayor, but you have a better chance of being elected the king of Poland than finding an extra ticket kicking around our offices.