ToonForum - Newcastle United Forum

Well that didn't last long. NUFC have decided to force the closure of the fan shirt selling site/brand down.


The Magpie Brand have issued a statement:

We are saddened by the treatment received from the club. It is a sign of the hollow shell that Newcastle United has become that the club will threaten its supporters with legal action, even at a time when it claims to be making an effort to improve relations with fans.

Mentioned on the site that there is a copyright issue.

overseasTOON wrote:Mentioned on the site that there is a copyright issue.

...
To be fair all I had read was Adidas had no issues, and the logo is the City's own, so it must be the passing off of the stripes.

And they're shocked why? They were purposely running the ownership through the mud and trying to take business from the club's pockets. It shouldn't come as a surprise to them or anyone, and they were never trying to mend fences or bring supporters and the club together - they were trying to drive a wedge between them.

It's the Magpie that's the issue apparently, not the crest or the stripes...

The magpie's the worst bit anyway, I'd have just had the crest.

Shame this has all imploded on them, I was well enthusiastic about it at the start of the summer when the club was in total turnoil and there was promises that the profits would go to anti debt charities. Taking months to get things finalized, an uninspired design and a far too high price point eventually f***ed them.

business defends it's copyright shocker

Beatski wrote:business defends it's copyright shocker

This. Just a few blokes trying to make a quick buck ( <perv> ) off pissed off supporters anyway. Serves them right, in a way.

Did many people even care in the first place?

Amnesiac wrote:Did many people even care in the first place?

I think for a time they had a lot of buzz on social media - but after delays and then disappointment with the design, I think that declined pretty quick. I was never interested.

I was always dubious of 'not for profit', and when the shirt came out and looked f***ing awful I wasn't touching it with a bargepole. Silly boys.

Not surprised, it was an awful idea. Not sure I'd want to spend my money on a snide football shirt. It looks like something they would've sold on Blyth Market 20 years ago.

Plus, trying to take revenue streams from the club is a misdirected message for encouraging the ownership to spend money. It was never as if they would turn around and promote people start buying official merch once they'd deemed Ashley had spent enough to deserve it.

Is that magpie a club design

If so fair enough. They can't claim black and white stripes or the city crest. Or the Adidas logo.

Bodacious Benny wrote:Is that magpie a club design

If so fair enough. They can't claim black and white stripes or the city crest. Or the Adidas logo.

The list of trademarks is no longer available from the intellectual property page of the club website, but it's possible infringement comes from "magpie", "united" or use of the magpie image in conjunction with that. Looking close at past crests, it doesn't appear that specific magpie image is a club design - but it may not matter.

I don't think the exact trademarks matter if it fails the "moron in a hurry" test

well the fact that they're marketing it as an 'alternative newcastle kit' probably does them no favours

I'm over Colo wrote:

Bodacious Benny wrote:Is that magpie a club design

If so fair enough. They can't claim black and white stripes or the city crest. Or the Adidas logo.

The list of trademarks is no longer available from the intellectual property page of the club website, but it's possible infringement comes from "magpie", "united" or use of the magpie image in conjunction with that. Looking close at past crests, it doesn't appear that specific magpie image is a club design - but it may not matter.

We've had the word "magpie" on our shirts before, so maybe it is the association of magpie in any form with black and white stripes

I'm not surprised at all. Actually the only surprising thing is that it took this long for legal action to occur.

Designing the kit to be a close mirror of the Newcastle kit, using the magpie which is a Newcastle alternative emblem/mascot and marketing it, as Beatski has pointed out as an alternative NUFC kit, it is an open and closed case of copyright infringement.

It would be like marketing a cola in a red and white can with a swirly pattern and calling it Cuke.

Their heart was in the right place but this was inevitable.

Donkey Toon wrote:I'm not surprised at all. Actually the only surprising thing is that it took this long for legal action to occur.

Designing the kit to be a close mirror of the Newcastle kit, using the magpie which is a Newcastle alternative emblem/mascot and marketing it, as Beatski has pointed out as an alternative NUFC kit, it is an open and closed case of copyright infringement.

It would be like marketing a cola in a red and white can with a swirly pattern and calling it Cuke.

Their heart was in the right place but this was inevitable.

Cuke.

Not the real thing.