As a big fan of test cricket, I was interested to see this morning that a new trophy will be up for grabs in the upcoming series between New Zealand (coming off an astounding 3-0 whitewash of India) and England. As is the fashion, the trophy will be named after a player from each country - in this case players who tragically died before their time, Martin Crowe and Graham Thorpe. Crowe was my childhood hero and I still have on my shelf a book on batting technique authored by him and his test cricketing brother, Jeff.
https://lnkd.in/g4SCzrmW
As an intellectual property lawyer, however, I thought I should see if NZ Cricket and the England & Wales Cricket Board* had done their homework. As yet there is no application in NZ to register CROWE-THORPE TROPHY as a trade mark. A search for CROWE shows that Martin's actor cousin had registered his own name in several classes, but every registration of RUSSELL CROWE has now expired. The only sports-related NZ registration containing THORPE is by a different sportsperson - Aussie swimmer Ian "Thorpedo" Thorpe.
The UK position is similar. Cousin Russell still has a valid registration but no sign of Martin or Graham. The MCC, the guardian of English (& Welsh) cricket, certainly understands the value of trade marks. It has registered the name of the world's most famous bilateral cricket trophy, THE ASHES, in many classes. Cricket Australia has done the same in their country.
I'm not sure that the Crowe-Thorpe Trophy will ever have the same cachet as The Ashes, but I am very much looking forward to its inaugural series later this summer!
*I'm sorry but there is no space for me to explain to readers from non-cricketing countries may why Great Britain doesn't play cricket as a single nation. Or why Scotland gets its own team but Wales doesn't. Or why Northern Ireland and Eire can play cricket as a single team. And let's not even get started on the West Indies - a "national" team selected from fifteen Caribbean nation-states and territories. (Most of the answers will include the words "Empire" and "Colonialism")
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5 个月R.I.P. Dikembe Mutombo??