On September 12, 1989, the Federation sent a letter to the Fund addressing its federal trademark application for the “WWF” mark in International Class 41 (for wrestling entertainment services). The International Class 41 also includes education, which the Fund were registered in. This marked the beginning of formal discussions between the two parties regarding the use of the “WWF” initials.
They reached an agreement, but once wrestling started putting stiff on the Internet, that effectively broke that agreement.
I’m just going off memory, but sky tv already provided computer-related services and products in Britain, so it’s not unreasonable for them not to want another company essentially using their name for a product that could quite easily be confused as to being associated with them
Between 1978 and 2007, there were a number of legal disputes between Apple Corps (owned by the Beatles) and the computer manufacturer Apple Computer (now Apple Inc.) over competing trademark rights, specifically over the use of the name “Apple” and their respective logos which consist of a profile of an apple. Apple Inc. paid Apple Corps. over three settlements: $80,000 in 1978, $26.5 million in 1991, and $500 million in 2007, when Apple Inc. acquired all the trademarks related to “Apple”.
On the other hand, Sky TV somehow managed to successfully sue Microsoft to force them to rename SkyDrive.
World Wildlife Fund successfully got WWF to switch to WWE. Now they have to blur out their own logo on old matches. It’s quite bizarre.
I always found that odd. You’d have to be a serious nonce to conflate dramatized wrestling with wildlife conservation, but here we are.
They reached an agreement, but once wrestling started putting stiff on the Internet, that effectively broke that agreement.
I’m just going off memory, but sky tv already provided computer-related services and products in Britain, so it’s not unreasonable for them not to want another company essentially using their name for a product that could quite easily be confused as to being associated with them
Especially with how things went the last time a tech company was at odds with a British company over a name. Apple Records
The Beatles got quite a lot of cash from Apple when they started selling music through iTunes, right?
Is that relevant to Apple breaking the agreement that they’d never get into music, of they were allowed to continue using the name?
Yeah I think so (I had to look it up though!)
These are settlements for breach of trademark, not proceeds for selling their music like you seemed to be saying in your initial comment
I didn’t mean my comment that way, but I’ve just reread it and yeah I wrote it way too ambiguously lol