ALS Association Backs Down On Attempt To Trade Mark “Ice Bucket Challenge”
Wednesday 3 September 2014 @ 11.50 a.m. | IP & Media | Legal Research
The ice bucket challenge has been a viral sensation on social media over the last couple of weeks. People all over the world have been filmed dumping buckets of icy cold water over their heads, raising money and/or awareness for various charities. The challenge is so popular that Australian politicians from across the spectrum have even got involved, including Federal Education Minister Christopher Pyne, NSW Attorney-General Brad Hazzard, Greens senator Sarah Hanson-Young (who nominated political nemesis Scott Morrison to go next) and Palmer United Party representative Jacqui Lambie.
The ice bucket challenge has been most prominently linked to the Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis Association (“the ALS Association”), which raises money for the neurogenerative disorder. The viral videos have been a huge success for the ALS Association which has raised $94.3 million between July 29 – August 27, compared to $2.7 million last year between the same dates. But an attempt to trade mark the terms “ice bucket challenge” and “ALS ice bucket challenge” ended in a backdown after a public outcry.
The attempt was spotted by US trade mark attorney Erik Pelton of Erik M Pelton & Associates, PLLC. He told the Washington Post that:
“The reasons in general one seeks to protect a trademark is to prevent others from using it… I find this to be shameful, because I hope that they would never consider … preventing some other charity from using the phrase.”
The ice bucket challenge has disputed origins, but it is clear that it has been used to raise money for charities other than the ALS Association. Slate published an article about the history of the ice bucket challenge on August 22 that found a video hashtagged #icebucketchallenge from May 29. According to the Washington Post, the ice bucket challenge has only been linked specifically with the ALS Association since July.
The charity then announced they had decided to withdraw their application for the trademarks. They told the Washington Post in a statement:
“The ALS Association is beside itself with gratitude to the millions of people who have participated in the Ice Bucket Challenge, and particularly grateful to the families who should fairly be credited with making the campaign go viral. The ALS Association took steps to trademark the Ice Bucket Challenge after seeing many examples of unscrupulous profiteers trying to drive revenue to themselves, instead of the fight against ALS. We secured the blessing of the families who initiated the challenge, which they provided without hesitation. The Association did this as a good faith effort to protect the integrity of the Ice Bucket Challenge. We are intent on preventing for-profit companies from capitalizing on this amazing, almost wholly grass-roots, and charitable campaign to raise money and awareness for the fight against ALS.”
The Washington Post reported that a number of ice bucket challenge products can be found for sale on the internet, “including a Halloween costume, several T-shirts and a pin”.
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