Full disclosure, I have a hobby website (it generates no $) related to this topic.
I read Tim Carlson’s article on the Challenge organization and found it interesting how many times the term “Iron Distance” was used. Is this the accepted alternative term to “Ironman”? You see “Full Distance” and “Ultra Distance” in some places as well.
The term “Ironman” is trademarked by WTC (World Triathlon Corporation), so any race of that distance that’s NOT run by them is referred to as “Iron distance”, or sometimes “full distance”. Kind of strange.
I like the term Irondistance much better. “Full distance” implies that anything shorter is somehow less of a triathlon. I know it isn’t meant that way, but the perception could be there.
All this being said, lets say next year I do Beach 2 Battleship. If I am telling my friends about the race I will still say, I did an Ironman triathlon.
I’m pretty sure the distance was called Ironman before it was trademarked by a company.
The term “Ironman” is trademarked by WTC (World Triathlon Corporation), so any race of that distance that’s NOT run by them is referred to as “Iron distance”, or sometimes “full distance”. Kind of strange.
Ya, I realize the limitations regarding the WTC trademark. I’m just wondering what everyone feels is the accepted term for non-WTC races. The Silverman, for instance, was an ‘Iron’ Distance when it first appeared then quickly became a ‘Full Distance’ as it is now. Does this mean the WTC threatened legal action? I’d be interested to know if that might be true and the term “Iron Distance” while seemingly accepted by triathletes as the term for non-WTC races, cannot be used officially by races for legal reasons. If so, is it not interesting that there seems to be no limits on use of the term ‘Half Iron’.
I just did a little checking on how races refer to themselves:
Great Floridian Ultra
Great Illini: Full
Plymouth: Iron Distance
Redman: Full
Chesapeakeman: Ultra
***All this being said, lets say next year I do Beach 2 Battleship. If I am telling my friends about the race I will still say, I did an Ironman triathlon. ***
Call it whatever you want. WTC can’t keep you from casually referring to a race as an Ironman, even if not a WTC sanctioned race
I’m pretty sure the distance was called Ironman before it was trademarked by a company.
I’m pretty sure it wasn’t, but even if it was, that’s irrelevant.
Steve…could a case be made that the “Ironman” name brand is now synonymous with the race distance so any distance of that length could be called an Ironman. Isn’t it sort of the same as the brand Kleenex. Even though there is only one brand of Kleenex, that is what it is called now isn’t it? It falls under the category of Genericized Trademark?
I did B2B last year and tell anyone that asks that I did an Ironman.
You could argue it, but given WTC’s concerted efforts to make sure that RD’s don’t use “Iron” in connection with their 2.4/112/26.2 races, I doubt it would be successful. Kleenex and Xerox both went through costly ad campaigns to make certain their marks were not genericized. Whether a court would buy an argument like that depends significantly on the efforts the trademark owner makes to police the use of the mark. I think you’d be hard-pressed to argue that WTC doesn’t take adequate steps to police its mark.
but what if…haha, kidding, you seem to have this topic dialed.
You got that right! I imagine they spend large boatloads o’ cash in that effort.
I think you might have better luck trying to drive a wedge in the idea that the Marvel Comic hero and the race are sufficiently different that the use is not infringing. I wonder if the early negotiations with Marvel didn’t try to leave that as a loophole. Something along the lines of “we’ll pay you cuz we don’t want the fight, not because we think you’re right.”
Kleenex and Xerox both went through costly ad campaigns to make certain their marks were not genericized.
Band-Aid did the same thing. The little commercial jingle used to be “I am stuck on Band-Aids, cuz Band-Aid’s stuck on me.” They changed it to “I am stuck on Band-Aid brand, cuz Band-Aid’s stuck on me.”
One of my fav race T-shirts is from the first year of the Georgia Rock n Roll Man Triathlon. It’s a half-iron distance, but the T-shirts and swim caps say “A half-Ironman experience,” even though the race is not a WTC joint. Love that.
The next year, all the promotional literature said “A half-iron experience.” Seems like someone got a cease-and-desist letter.
I’m pretty sure the distance was called Ironman before it was trademarked by a company.
I’m pretty sure it wasn’t, but even if it was, that’s irrelevant.
I don’t know the history of the name for 140.6 races. If it wasn’t called Ironman before, the current trademark would stand. If there is evidence that the distance was commonly called ironman by other groups before it was trademarked, I’d think there’s good argument to successfully challenge the trademark …not that any race directors would choose to spend the huge bucks it would take for a challenge.
Slowman wrote a very good article on this a while back: http://www.slowtwitch.com/Features/The_trademark_272.html
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You could argue it, but given WTC’s concerted efforts to make sure that RD’s don’t use “Iron” in connection with their 2.4/112/26.2 races, I doubt it would be successful. Kleenex and Xerox both went through costly ad campaigns to make certain their marks were not genericized. Whether a court would buy an argument like that depends significantly on the efforts the trademark owner makes to police the use of the mark. I think you’d be hard-pressed to argue that WTC doesn’t take adequate steps to police its mark.
I may be able to answer that question in the next couple months. I just obtained an RD as a client who has been using “Half-Iron” for his race for the last couple years. He received a cease and desist letter a couple weeks ago from WTC. He told WTC he does not believe they “own” the term “Half-Iron” and wants us to fight it. Not sure where it will go, but, I’m guesing we will find some sort of mutual agreement.
I believe the first Ironman was called “The Iron Man.” It probably wasn’t a “use in commerce” sufficient to invoke trademark rights, but I’d bet that the next race or two would qualify. Further, I’m not aware of any other race calling itself an (or THE) Ironman or Iron Man in the months/years following the first few Ironman races. Maybe there were some. Maybe not. However, Ironman is now a federally registered mark… I would bet that for at least the use in commerce relating to triathlon race direction services, it’s probably incontestible. So, I doubt there would be a successful challenge to the registration. The likely best scenario would be that the RD of a local race might be able to argue prior, local use and be entitled to a geographically restricted, concurrent use of the mark. However, as you point out, even that would be an expensive challenge.
I tend to agree with your client, particularly if he’s marketing it as a “Half-Iron distance” triathlon. Sounds pretty descriptive to me.
One of my fav race T-shirts is from the first year of the Georgia Rock n Roll Man Triathlon. It’s a half-iron distance, but the T-shirts and swim caps say “A half-Ironman experience,” even though the race is not a WTC joint. Love that.
The next year, all the promotional literature said “A half-iron experience.” Seems like someone got a cease-and-desist letter.
Has anyone out there seen or received one of these cease and desist letters or seen the actual trademark listing? Again, half-iron is so common I can’t imagine they are sending letters to everyone that uses it. If so, the case made can’t be that strong or the term wouldn’t be so ubiquitous. Which brings us back to the question: if Half-Iron Distance is seemingly acceptable, why not Iron Distance? I think we’re all agreed that the terms ‘Ultra’ and ‘Full’, face a long road to any level of acceptance.
The first half I ever registered for was the Canadian Half Iron in Ottawa. By the time I did the race it was called the Canadian Half. I guess they might have recieved a letter. Another race that I’ve been told had trouble with WTC is a Sprint in Maine. It was called the Ironbear triathlon until last year when they changed to Polar bear triathlon.
What’s your website? Is it all about the use of Iron in race names?