The NFL Initiates Operation Footbullet

[SirFozzie]

All you folks with your big screen TV's... you're breaking the law! You're infringing the NFL's copyright...

What freakin idiots.

http://www.indystar.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070201/LOCAL/702010431/&template=printart

The thousands of churches across the country that want to host Super Bowl parties Sunday night had better not pull out big-screen TVs, or they could face the wrath of NFL attorneys.
The NFL is telling Fall Creek Baptist Church in Indianapolis that the church's plans to use a wall projector to show the game at a party for church members and guests would violate copyright laws.
NFL officials spotted a promotion of Fall Creek's "Super Bowl Bash" on the church Web site last week and sent pastor John D. Newland a letter -- via FedEx overnight -- demanding the party be canceled.
Initially, the league objected to the church's plan to charge partygoers a fee to attend and that the church used the license-protected words "Super Bowl" in its promotions.
Newland told the NFL his church would not charge partygoers -- the fee had been intended only to pay for snacks -- and that it would drop the use of the forbidden words.
But the NFL wouldn't bite. It objected to the church's plans to use a projector to show the game on what effectively was a 12-foot-wide screen. It said the law limits the church to one TV no bigger than 55 inches.

Here are the official NFL Party rules from that article, direct from the NFL

NFL PARTY RULES
For groups that want to host Super Bowl parties -- other than sports bars and businesses that normally show televised sports -- here are rules the NFL says must be followed:

• No admission fees (even to pay for snacks).

• Only one television (55 inches or smaller).

• No use of the words "Super Bowl" in promotional materials.

• No exhibition of the game in connection with events "that promote a message."

[flere-imsaho]

You've got to be kidding me.

[Icy]

ROFL at the NFL saying how big must be your TV.

[Lathum]

PR nightmare

[Pumpy Tudors]

the nfl be crackin down

[DaddyTorgo]

heard this on the radio this morning and went "Ummm...WTF."

PR nightmare is right. esepcially cuz you're taking on a church where the pastor has come out and said 'we wanted to provide an alternative place that wasn't full of alcohol and temptations for minors and others to watch the game."

so your de-facto position becomes "we don't care if your kids hafta go to a sportsbar and get drunk to watch the game."

[NoMyths]

May be more to the story -- probably has more to do with the intellectual property lawyers* doing what they hoped was quiet due diligence (you have to show effort to protect your copyright, or you can lose it, is my understanding, and if the church was advertising on the Internet...et al.). Unquietness = PR nightmare, because if my explanation is anything close to what happened, there's no way to explain that quickly and effectively to Joe Football. Saying "The NFL hates Christians" probably will have a longer shelf-life.

[miami_fan]

The NFL hates organized religion:D

[NoMyths]

*Yeah, I'm looking at you, Shaw.

[NoMyths]

The NFL hates organized religion:D

I love it when a plan comes together.

[miami_fan]

I love it when a plan comes together.

So when do we protest?

[John Galt]

This weekend I will be:

Breakin' the law, breakin' the law.

I hope the NFL doesn't find out about my HD projector.

[albionmoonlight]

Why the fuck do they have the right to say how big my TV is?

[Axxon]

Why the fuck do they have the right to say how big my TV is?

They don't.

They may have the right to determine how big a TV can show their product if the law that was referred to in the article is a real one.

[Raiders Army]

I don't see what the outrage is all about. The NFL is enforcing valid rules. I think they need to do a much better job enforcing their rules, as I have to pay for my beer when I go to a bar to watch an NFL game.

[Grammaticus]

So if I watch it by myself or not "as a party", can I watch it on a screen larger than 55"?

[Mustang]

I don't see what the outrage is all about. The NFL is enforcing valid rules.

I would agree. They are stupid rules but, at least they are consistent.

[Kodos]

So if I watch it by myself or not "as a party", can I watch it on a screen larger than 55"?


Yes. If you watch all of the commercials with no bathroom breaks.

[Raiders Army]

I would agree. They are stupid rules but, at least they are consistent.

Ummmm....I was joking. See the second part of my post that says I want free beer when I go to bars. ;)

[KWhit]

Now that's just ridiculous.

[cuervo72]

If there is some law that defines what a "rebroadcast" is (and it states 55")...maybe. I doubt that though (otherwise I don't think you'd have campus movies or movies on the quad, or elementary schools showing Chitty-Chitty-Bang-Bang, etc). I think the NFL is just making some of this stuff up.

[JonInMiddleGA]

I've dealt with the NFL legal department indirectly. If you look up the word "nightmare" in the dictionary, there ought to be a picture of them.

[JeffNights]

The pastor should stand is ground.....the worst the NFL could is sue them...and ha, i'd actually like to see that on the evening news.

"NFL sues church for watching Super Bowl"

[Oilers9911]

I've dealt with the NFL legal department indirectly. If you look up the word "nightmare" in the dictionary, there ought to be a picture of them.

Jon, may I ask in what context you dealt with them? Or is there a black sedan circling youe house waiting to pounce if you tell us? :)

[Ksyrup]

What if I'm watching a 65" TV alone, but I'm eating something delicious and I'm having a party in my mouth?

[Ksyrup]

I've dealt with the NFL legal department indirectly. If you look up the word "nightmare" in the dictionary, there ought to be a picture of them.

If you think back to the hassle that 'Fraidycats guy got for his Bengals logo, I can believe it.

Lawyers...what a bunch of unfeeling, out of touch assholes! :D

[albionmoonlight]

From what I recall, you really do need to enforce your copyrights and trademarks in order not to lose them.

What would be nice would be if they would amend the law to allow owners to send a letter saying something like "We think that you are violating our mark, but we are choosing not to take action right now. However, we reserve the right to take action in the future at any time" that would have the legal effect of protecting the mark.

Of course, if such a common sense rule existed, then companies couldn't hide behind the "we want to be nice, but the law makes us do this" argument. So don't hold your breath waiting for that change.