F1 Trademarks Daniel Ricciardo's Signature Podium Celebration, The Shoey

Isn't that like a teacher trademarking something their student did? Lol...

Worse... it's like the University (overseeing company) licensing something the teacher's (respective team) student's (respective driver/team member) equal of another University's teacher's student actually did the act and called it a "Shoey".

To quote Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Drinking_from_shoes
Drinking beer out of one's own shoe is a ritual sometimes undertaken at parties and events in Australia, where it is referred to as a "shoey".[1][2] Australian MotoGP rider Jack Miller celebrated his first premier class victory by drinking champagne out of his shoe, at the Dutch circuit of Assen, on 26 June 2016. Since then, Formula One driver Daniel Ricciardo, another Australian, has also performed shoeys on the podium..


...and even that's not the origin of the tradition as it goes way back of the Prince of Prusia in 1902 (see rest of above article).

So yeah, how are they even able to trademark an old practice like this? Unbelievable and to be honest... a quote sad money grubbing move. :yuck::yuck::yuck:
 
So yeah, how are they even able to trademark an old practice like this?
Ultimately it isn't. Examples of trademarked gestures are very few and far between, as they have to meet several criteria regarding the uniqueness of the act, the association with it to the business or individual and the perception of it within the wider industry. For example, trademarking a thumbs-up gesture would be a nightmare as it's common and not associated specifically to any individual, business, or industry. The only gestural trademark I'm aware of is the Asda pocket pat, which is trademarked to Asda for the purposes of promotion and advertising within the grocery and general goods industry.

In this instance the company hasn't trademarked the act itself (and probably couldn't) but rather the terminology of - and probably imagery of - the act for the purposes of promotion, advertising, and merchandising. However, it's a limited trademark as there is an existing, established brand of clothing with the same name as the act: Shoey. I imagine the motorsport safetywear brand Shoei is also unpleased.

That effectively means that Liberty can use the word "Shoey" and images of its drivers performing it to advertise the sport in print, broadcast, and digital media, as well as merchandise like shirts and probably shoes (and novelty drinking glasses), but other motorsports cannot. However it can't prevent other people - whether participants of other motorsports or not - from doing a shoey and calling it a shoey.
 
However, it's a limited trademark as there is an existing, established brand of clothing with the same name as the act: Shoey. I imagine the motorsport safetywear brand Shoei is also unpleased.

And the Schuey, which is another sort of winning but much more dangerous to race against.

Perhaps the article title could be subtly altered to reflect the fact that the act itself isn't (and likely couldn't be) trademarked?
 
A little more background(and please don't bash me for the "reporter" who did the article):

http://www.news.com.au/sport/motors...y/news-story/48f60003402b0febe565a9c04de36661
“This is something we used to do back at school in Albury,’’ Reynolds said.

“It has come from a bunch of larakin Aussies having a laugh and they want to make cash out of it. It is not a product but a celebration. No one has the right to own a celebration.’’

Formula 1 was knocked back from an attempt to trademarking the term for use in clothing production with the “Shoey’’ having already been registered by Australian company Mad Hueys.

“I don’t think anyone is happy with what they have done,’’ Reynolds said.

“Personally I am quite annoyed about it. Why can’t they come up with there own ideas?’’
Reynolds is credited for sending the “Shoey’’ global after the V8 larakin drank from his boot during a Supercars podium in 2015.

“Then Jack Miller was doing it in Moto-GP,’’ Reynolds said.
“And then Daniel Ricciardo was doing it in Formula 1. Now everyone is doing it.’’

The sensation even went cross code when the Cronulla Sharks performed the ‘’Shoey’’ after winning the NRL premiership in 2016.

“To be completely fair we probably should have trademarked it back for ourselves in 2015,’’ Reynolds said.

Before the VASC race at Perth, David Reynolds was asked for his view about this news again. He then mentioned giving props to a V8 Ute driver doing a shoey on the podium(which Ute post race celebrations, are rarely broadcast). So, how ever long ago that was, he was a bit annoyed by F1.
 
It's an Aussie thing; was introduced to it after my first race in Bathurst. Probably just trademarked the phrase for promotional purposes so they can use it to promote the sport. If they don't do it, some other athlete in some other sport might copy it and it might catch on and suddenly it's a missed opportunity for F1
 
I guess they took inspiration from Decker's and their trademarking of the word 'ugg,' or that time Abercrombie and Fitch trademarked the term 'Bondi Beach'

I'm waiting for the day when someone tries to trademark the term ANZAC, just to set the bar even lower than it already is...
 
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Is it possible for GTPNewsWire threads to incorporate threads which already talk about the given subject?
 
I love how their first thought when they saw it was "How can we make money out of this?"
 
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