The "Stick It In" T-shirt is prominently placed in Bookholders' front window display downtown
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Downtown bookstore Bookholders has officially trademarked the infamous phrase "Stick It In."
The Baltimore-based company issued a press release Tuesday saying its Blacksburg branch is preparing to make charitable donations off all earnings made by the “Stick It In” line of apparel.
While no mention of the trademark was made in the press release, Joe Verde, vice president of research and development for Bookholders confirmed yesterday that the trademark has been registered.
When asked why the company decided to trademark the phrase, Verde mentioned concerns over the company’s ability to market the popular chant.
“We had people come in about the trademark," Verde said. "We were worried about losing the right to do it. That’s when the managers, who are alumni of the school, came up with the idea. We’re in to selling books, and we thought this would be another great avenue to get people into the store.”
Rumors of the trademark have been circulating on Facebook, Twitter and Reddit for the past week.
While Verde is uncertain about how the rumors began, the topic of “Stick It In” t-shirts has been trending most notably in conjunction with one of Bookholders’ biggest Tech-apparel rivals, Campus Emporium.
Campus Emporium began releasing cryptic posts on their Facebook wall a week ago.
“Sorry if we've acted weird over the last few days about certain items in our store. We can't really say much, but please trust we did what we had to do and are currently doing everything we can,” posted Campus Emporium on Oct. 17.
While no other information has shed light on this mysterious post, comments and tweets from fans of the local store have voiced negative opinions toward Bookholders for having created the trademark.
Campus Emporium has said its “Stick It In” T-shirts are no longer for sale, saying in a Twitter post “Who knows what the future holds…”
Outside of social media forums, Campus Emporium has had only this to say on the topic of the trademark, in a release made directly to the Collegiate Times.
A version of this article appeared in the Oct 25 issue of the Collegiate Times.
Leave a comment 31 Comments Write a letter to the editor
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Donate the money to victims of sexual assault.
Sincerely,
"Blacksburg Culture"
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Make up on a pig. Don't hide behind charity, BookHolders. What you did was out of pure money lust. This charity stunt sounds like a necessary step by BookHolders considering the bad press that I hope this article perpetuates. A better solution is to give up the trademark. I mean what's next? Lunch pail defense? By the way, that photo shows 'Stick It In' four times. Anyone who knows anything about it knows it was only said three times. Campus emporium had it right. They always have and will continue to get my business.
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You shouldn't be trademarking a phrase like that, that is so prevalent throughout the community.
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"'We were worried about losing the right to do it.'"
What a money grab, pure and simple. There's an exception in trademark law that allows a trademark to be disputed if there is clear evidence of prior use. I hope the Marching Virginians a) are the recipient of any alleged "charitable donations" that might come from Bookholders and b) they use the funds to file their own claim on the trademark.
It gives me another reason to continue shopping at Bookholders.
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It disgusts me that a book store, based in Baltimore not Blacksburg, would trademark and capitalize on a school tradition. As others have said, if anyone had the right to the trademark it is the MArching Virginians. I have never and will not be shopping at BookHolders and will continue to shop at Campus Emporium.
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Awesome article Dean.
On the topic of trademarking; why not let them do it? If they want rights to it, then let them have it. Campus Emporium had the same opportunities as BookHolders to trademark it! And why would they lie about donating it to charity. This has the potential to turn into a great fundraising opportunity for a great local charity.
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Not being able to sell it is a legitimate concern, considering the way VT trademarks everything remotely related to the school and then locks down all use of it... The old logo and the fighting gobbler, for example, cannot be used on new merchandise orders except by the school. If they wanted to get rid of Stick It In, they could do the same thing and just lock the copyright away.
This entire thing is blown so far out of proportion, you'd think everyone involved had nothing better to do with their lives! If anything, I say "Shame!" to Campus Emporium for using the opportunity to start a smear campaign and being obscenely childish. Bookholders is a bookstore that happens to sell some apparel; there's not a wide selection that would threaten Campus Emporium, and I've gone around looking for something and actually been directed to try Campus Emporium instead!
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Sooo Bookholders said they were willing to let other stores sell it too, and urged these stores to contact them about the opportunity? Mmmk... Has the Campus Emporium done this? Or what about some of the other local vendors in the Blacksburg area? I personally think it would be awesome to see a Blacksburg wide push for a local group/charity! They're even giving us, the fans of the phrase, the ability to direct the donations. Well... let's direct them where we want them to go, and push for the other local vendors to start this too! Hopefully Bookholders follows through and lets these other vendors have access to the phrase. Personally I'm voting for the funds to go back towards the band.
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http://tess2.uspto.gov/bin/showfield?f=toc&state=4002%3Al70ov5.1.1&p_search=searchss&p_L=50&BackReference=&p_plural=yes&p_s_PARA1=&p_tagrepl~%3A=PARA1%24LD&expr=PARA1+AND+PARA2&p_s_PARA2=bookholders&p_tagrepl~%3A=PARA2%24OW&p_op_ALL=AND&a_default=search&a_search=Submit+Query&a_search=Submit+Query
Sorry for the ugly link.... they also have trademark on "Sucks to be U"
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Abolish all "Intellectual Property".
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Campus Emporium undoubtedly thought "Stick It In" should remain in the Public Domain.
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What's the fuss? This is just a registration on the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office's supplemental register, which gives the registration NO SUBSTANTIVE RIGHTS. It's like a placeholder. Unless BookHolders can demonstrate that it has regular common-law rights derived from its use of the mark on these types of goods in commerce (to the exclusion of others), it's got nothing.
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If Bookholders is really being charitable, this looks appropriate... http://spiritoftech.music.vt.edu/giving_about.html
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Marching Virginians for their new facility!
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I agree, with Mr. Verde... that all proceeds should go to victims of sexual assault. And anti-assault and pro-good taste seminars.
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