Legal Blog And Client Alerts

The latest update in the Buffalo Bills efforts to trademark Bills Mafia

Attorney Les Greenbaum has been covering the trademark issue surrounding Bills Mafia since 2020, and offers his latest update on where things stand.

As the Bills Mafia heads home in disappointment from Kansas City, Buffalo Bills LLC itself is in a position to complete the U.S. Trademark application process for the "Bills Mafia" trademark in standard characters (SN 90248260) and in a design format (SN 90248264).

With a minor modification to the description of medical mask products in International Class 10, both marks have now been  "allowed" by the USPTO for a wide variety of clothing ranging from aprons and baseball caps to wool hats and wrist bands. 

The Buffalo Music Hall of Fame inducted Gross Shuman P.C. Attorney Les Greenbaum as part of its Class of 2021. Mr.  Greenbaum was enshrined as part of the Rick James Stone City Family. 

In April, 2021 when we last looked at this subject, the Buffalo Bills applications to register the trademark "Bills Mafia" in standard characters (SN 90248260) and in a stylized design (SN 90248264) were stymied by another pending application to register the mark "Billsmafia" filed by Karina Lopez (SN 90051257).

The latesat developments on the battle to trademark "Bills Mafia"

When we last visited this subject in January, the Buffalo Bills’ own applications to register the trademark “Bills Mafia” in standard characters (SN 90248260) or in a stylized design (SN 90248264) had not yet been reviewed by an attorney examiner at the United States Patent & Trademark Office (“USPTO”).

When we first looked at the Buffalo Bills LLC’s (“Bills”) applications to register the trademark “BILLS MAFIA” (SN 90248260 and 90248264) at the United States Patent & Trademark Office (“USPTO”), we found a significant hurdle in the way.

The Buffalo Bills LLC's recent applications to register the trademark "BILLS MAFIA" at the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) in standard characters and stylized form in a clothing classification may encounter several hurdles.
 
First, there is already a pending application at the USPTO made by an individual named Karina Lopez to register the mark "BILLSMAFIA" in standard characters for a service described as "creating an on-line community of registered users to talk about Buffalo New York sports" (SN90051257) The Lopez application was made on July 14, 2020 and has not yet been reviewed by a USPTO examiner; a process that may take another month.

The Bills are second in line to file a trademark for BILLS MAFIA. How will the process play out and who might ultimately end up with control of this valuable piece of intellectual property? 

New York Governor Andrew Cuomo is expected to sign a bill enacting new posthumous protections against the unauthorized use of a deceased person’s name, voice, likeness or performance for advertising or commercial purposes.

The bill, establishing a New York “Right of Publicity,” has long been advocated for by actors groups including SAG to protect the likenesses of deceased persons of notoriety.