A zillion kids and and adults know “WWF” as the initials of the World Wrestling Foundation, the steroid opera that makes Miss Cleo look like a model of integrity.
And that’s the problem, because those initials were used and publicized far earlier (trademarked in the US 1961, in fact) by the World Wildlife Federation. Though it now goes, internationally, by the name World Wide Fund for Nature, it still uses the WWF initials and panda logo.
The two organizations have negotiated over the years over the conflicting initials, and reached an agreement in 1994. But subsequent alleged violations led the wildlife group to sue the wrestlers in Britain, leading to an injunction, which has now stood up to an appeal.
A London court ruled last year that the wresting organization was permitted a limited use of the initials in the United States, but could no longer use its wwf.com Web site address. The wildlife group has wwf.org.
Judges Sir Robert Carnwath, Lord Phillips and Sir Igor Judge ruled Wednesday that the federation was guilty of “clear and repeated” breaches of the agreement.
The federation estimates change of name will cost it $50 million. “The costs of rebranding now, after some five years of development, are entirely attributable to its own decision to take that risk,” Carnwath said.
I know it’s an emotionalistic response, but there’s a real joy in seeing a ultra-macho utterly-fake, seriously-lowbrow multimillion dollar media organization lose out to an international organization focused on nature and its preservation.
Go Pandas!