- NEWSDAY.CO.TT - A la Une - 18/Jul 04:00

Attorney: Soca Warriors trademark may have flaws

BARRISTER and attorney Dr Emir Crowne said the Soca Warriors trademark may have flaws, which can possibly lead to it being overturned. The TT Football Association (TTFA) and former broadcaster Selwyn Melville are trying to come up with a resolution concerning the Soca Warriors nickname, the sobriquet for the national men's senior football team. Melville applied for the trademark approximately 20 years ago after claiming he coined the phrase in the late 1990s. The trademark was received and registered in 2022, and therefore, he now owns the name. Crowne said trademarks "protect specific categories of goods and services." He is asking if the trademark has been used for its intended purpose. "One needs to question whether this very wide variety of goods and services, whether there has been any actual use of the Soca Warriors trademark...I raised that because trademarks are premised on use and in the absence of actually using a trademark for the goods and services for which it is registered, there is a process in which a trademark can be revoked." Crowne claims that because the nickname became popular before Melville applied for the trademark, he believes the former broadcaster may not have the right to call it his own. "One questions whether at the time of application...if the phrase the Soca Warriors had not been already generic or commonplace to describe TT's national football team because if it shows that...everyone in the world practically described TT's football team as Soca Warriors...if everyone was using that phrase to describe TT's national football team, then I would suggest that the mark was not properly registered which is another ground in which the trademark could be revoked. It could be revoked for being invalid." The post Attorney: Soca Warriors trademark may have flaws appeared first on Trinidad and Tobago Newsday.