John Wayne's Heirs Sue Duke University

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John Wayne's heirs are taking Duke University to court to assert the family's right to market bottles of bourbon branded with the late movie star's nickname, Duke. A federal lawsuit filed last week is the latest salvo in a long-running legal duel between the North Carolina university and California-based John Wayne Enterprises over commercial products featuring the name. The late actor used the moniker since childhood, when he adopted the name of the family dog. Lawyers for the university say allowing the Wayne estate to use the name could cause confusion and "diminish, dilute and tarnish" the value of the name, for which both parties hold trademarks. Messages seeking comment Wednesday from John Wayne Enterprises were not returned. The bourbon is labeled with an image of Wayne holding a rifle with "Duke" emblazoned over it in bold letters. The phrase "A man's gotta do what a man's gotta do" is included on the back side of the bottle.

They should be able to market the bourbon and name their restaurant Duke because Duke University doesn't own the word Duke. Here is a pic of the bottle.

Now how can the University claim that when people see this they are going to think of the University? I don't see how the University can do anything to stop them. As it says in the article.

The United States Patent and Trademark Office lists more than 250 active trademarks that include the word "Duke," including jazz legend Duke Ellington and a brand of mayonnaise.

Besides the only time people think of the University is when you are talking about college basketball any other time it's John Wayne.

a reply to: buster2010

Wasn't he known as " The Duke" and not Duke?


Not sure if there is a difference.

originally posted by: thesaneone
a reply to: buster2010

Wasn't he known as " The Duke" and not Duke?


Not sure if there is a difference.

I think the University would still object. Over the years I have heard both ways.

a reply to: buster2010

looks like another reason to dislike money.....

if was rich i would name my son "sun" and then patent the sun so anyone who goes outside has to pay me for the privilege...

a reply to: buster2010

People are idiots.

Big difference between Duke university and a bad ass silhouette of John Wayne.

a reply to: buster2010

Total B$

Here is the problem with the good old USA holding back progress and advancing civilizations for the better.
1. Lobbying
2. Patents
3. Trademarks
4. Oligopolies

With that said, I'm not so sure that the DUKE trust fund would be to keen if it was the other way around either.

a reply to: buster2010

What an asinine suit. It's pretty obvious from the bottle that there's nothing that would confuse it with anything other than John Wayne. Now if the bottle depicted some rugby players having their way with an unwilling young lady, they might've had a case, this on the other hand is just dumb and Wayne's heirs should be able to legitimately profit from his likeness as I'm sure the estate owns the trademark.

a reply to: buster2010

Seems ironic considering his favorite adult beverage was tequila. He liked his women south of the border as well.

a reply to: buster2010

I'm with you on this, Buster.

Duke University cannot claim TM on the name "Duke." It is too widespread. They could sue if their name AND logo or other obvious reference to the school were present (like a picture of Duke Chapel or their Devil mascot image, etc.)

Without "University" after it, and without any other reference that could be associated with the University, then it really doesn't have a leg to stand on, imo.

Unless of course it's REALLY bad liquor, then they should sue the pants off them just for that...



- AB

originally posted by: MarlinGrace
a reply to: buster2010

Seems ironic considering his favorite adult beverage was tequila. He liked his women south of the border as well.

He was also quite fond of whiskey as well.

nobody cares about john wayne or duke or whatever... its all about the money - "OH LOOK theres an opportunity to make a buck - RELEASE THE KRAKEN"

Sad world we live in...

"Life is hard, it's harder when you're stupid"

Gotta love that.

This sort of stuff seems silly to us, but the truth is that if you make an exception and allow someone to use your trademark you lose your rights to that trademark. The same thing with the bar that was making beer named the same as some coffee at starbucks.

I could see it if there were lacrosse players on the bottle.

a reply to: AboveBoard

They actually do claim to have the word DUKE trademarked (per the trademark page of their website) also some other things like the blue devil head, some sort of pitchfork, a crazy willie.... or something.

the problem is with the imagery used not with the name... the word "Duke" can be anything... but its the imagery that screws it all.

Because... good luck trying to sue KTM for its KTM Duke or anything else... just put a noble there and get on with it.

The lawsuit is because of "Duke" associated with that figure... I mean come on, its even on the dictionary - even if its stupid - registering a noble rank associated with a name is just stupid but... whatever, America - the only country in the world where you can sue (and win) mcdonald's for burning yourself with a cup of hot coffee just because the freakin cup didnt say "HOT"... I mean... it kinda opens a lot precedents to some stupid crap.

Its too easy to make money out of lawsuits in the us... in europe.... not so much.

originally posted by: LadySkadi
a reply to: AboveBoard

They actually do claim to have the word DUKE trademarked (per the trademark page of their website) also some other things like the blue devil head, some sort of pitchfork, a crazy willie.... or something.

You cant trademark the word Duke... its a noble rank for instance. If I call my wine DUKE and attach it the image of a medieval nobleman you cant touch it. Same for the bike, the KTM Duke.

They could call it: Marion Robert Morrison

In this day and age, we have people trying to trademark words that shouldn't even be considered as trademarkable(I need to trademark that word FAST!!!). Like the guy from Storage Wars who put the word "YUUUP!" on everything. It's like the word 'and'.

Unless it has a picture of the college behind it, there isn't anything that they can do, but then again, it depends on who "they" are and what strings they can pull with their "friends".

originally posted by: thesaneone
a reply to: buster2010

Wasn't he known as " The Duke" and not Duke?


Not sure if there is a difference.

of course there is, so sue all Dukes lol nice publicity stunt!

I always thought that trademarks only applied within the same sphere of business.

So unless the University makes alcohol (and arguably, students do), their trademark shouldn't apply.