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| Chilling Effects Clearinghouse > Trademark > Weather Reports > Trademark Disunity: Clear Channel Zaps "Unity Day" | 
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|  Trademark Disunity: Clear Channel Zaps "Unity Day"Research Staff, Chilling Effects Clearinghouse, October 09, 2009 Abstract: After announcing that Philadelphia radio station WDAS would not be able to sponsor the Unity Day festival for the first time in 30 years, Clear Channel has used an allegation of trademark rights in the name "Unity Day" to prevent citizens from raising funds and obtaining city permits to keep the tradition going. The first "Unity Day" in Philadelphia was held in 1978. Over the past thirty years, the event, produced by Philadelphia radio station WDAS and sponsored by other corporations, has grown into an annual community celebration of African American culture, drawing tens of thousands of spectators together to enjoy food, family activities, and live music. This year, Clear Channel, which owns WDAS, announced that the economic downturn would prevent them from sponsoring Unity Day. Amidst the great disappointment, a group of concerned citizens started to raise funds and formed a corporation, Unity Day on the Parkway, Inc., with plans to sponsor the festival themselves and return it to its traditional venue, the Benjamin Franklin Parkway. Clear Channel responded by claiming trademark rights in the name "Unity Day." They sent a cease and desist letter to Unity Day on the Parkway (posted here Clear Channel Claims Ownership of "Unity Day"), demanding not only that they use some other name for their festival, but that they also cease and desist from making any reference to previous Unity Days on their website. The current website contains historical photographs, including an image of the late State Representative Dave Richardson playing at the 1979 Unity Day softball game. Though Unity Day on the Parkway argued that the name "Unity Day" is too generic to serve as a trademark for Clear Channel's services, the allegation of trademark rights temporarily halted the city permit process. The traditional date of the third Sunday in August has passed for 2009 and now Unity Day on the Parkway has vowed to try to hold a Unity Day next year. For more information on genericism and other limitations of trademark rights see Trademark. What was the goal here in pressing trademark rights on a festival that had become a community tradition? The news that Clear Channel was not able to sponsor the event had been very public, so confusion as to whether Clear Channel was involved this year seems unlikely, and could have been cleared away with disclaimers. The only thing certainly accomplished by the cease and desist letter is the destruction of community goodwill that had been built up over years of sponsoring the event. The future of Unity Day is now uncertain, but, in any case, trademark rights do not give a mark owner the power to keep others from using the mark to discuss the mark owner's services, for instance, in cases of product comparison, news, criticism, or commentary. In other words, we should all feel free to discuss the Unity Day softball game of 1979 and all of the other fun memories Philadelphians surely associated with the festival.
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