"Who Dat" trademark holder speaks out NFL
By: Karen Dalton-Beninato

As the Saints march toward the Super Bowl, there's a chill in the midst of the Who Dat Nation. The National Football League has issued cease and desist orders to various New Orleans merchants, including for infractions as small as a fleur de lis in the middle of the "o" in #whodat. When you're covering something this important to our city, you go to the source. As far as trade marks for WhoDat are concerned, that's Sal and Steve Monistere.

Steve recorded the Who Dat chant in 1983, and using that chant, he recorded the original "Who Dat" single with members of the Saints offensive line and singer Aaron Neville (photo of the original single above). Then, together, the Monistere brothers immediately embarked on one of the most ingenious marketing campaigns in sports history. And the Who Dat Nation was born.

Steve Monistere, a founding member of New Orleans party band The Topcats, read about the recent NFL actions regarding the use of Who Dat in my article on New Orleans.com. "I had heard about the cease and desist, and had seen this article," Monistere said. When reading the comments, he mentioned that "the third from the top is right on." (That comment describes the Monistere's hit song and the registration for trademarks of Who Dat).

As far as the intellectual property, Monistere explains that, "Sure, a fleur de lis can belong to the Saints, but in very specific usage, and everybody knows what that is," Monistere explained. "If you go back to 1967, to date, they have registered and used the fleur de lis in a very specific way. They put it on the Saints helmet and on the Saints shield. Its colors are very specific -- they're old gold and black.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/karen-dalton...

Believe me, the "Who Dat" nation is up in arms about this today. The NFL has stirred up a hornet's nest by trying to co-opt unique symbols of New Orleans. The Fleur-de-lis cannot be copyrighted, it is a symbol of France as well as other countries, organizations etc. and has been in use for over 1000 years!!