Staking claim to the "Alamo"

Hm. I did not know you could trademark the name of a historical place.

SAN ANTONIO (AP) -- The state of Texas has temporarily halted a request to register a trademark of "The Alamo."

The Daughters of the Republic of Texas is seeking trademark rights to create a line of official Alamo merchandise. The group has cared for the state-owned Alamo since 1905.

A 30-day period to oppose the trademark ended this week. But on Wednesday, the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office granted the state's request for a 90-day extension.

(from WOAI-TV)

The attempt to trademark "The Alamo" by the DRT seems a bit curmudgeonly to me. For one thing, the gate's been open and the horse has been out for decades already. You can't swing a dead cat nowadays without hitting something named after the Alamo, and that's not even including all the little businesses bearing that name just in San Antonio.

For another thing, when you have something that is near and dear to the hearts of many people (as the Alamo is), they tend to resent you if you boss them around about saying or using the name, and trust me, people will resent the DRT if they win their trademark and start suing people. Look at how LULAC baffled the whole city by going after a poor little princely pooch.

Come on, Daughters. Let's not be heavy-handed about the Alamo name. We promise to use it nicely, so please don't sue us. And we won't even ask about that whole basement business.