Trending
It is important to defend what belongs to you.
Trademarks, copyrights, patents. They all do the same thing. They put a fence around intellectual property and warn against infringement. Do not use this logo. Do not reproduce this content. Do not create your own version of this invention. The ability to do any of that requires permission.
It's why Disney will zealously guard its characters. If you use Xerox as a generic verb referring to photocopiers, don't be surprised if a trademark attorney appears out of thin air. Bayer could explain the importance. Aspirin used to be its trademark. Today it's just how we refer to acetylsalicylic acid.
But Mickey Mouse exists as a design. Xerox is a company. There's probably aspirin in your bathroom right now.
But there is no Pennsylvania State Fair.
That is not preventing a Pennsylvania lawmaker from trying to defend it.
State Rep. Catherine Wallen, R-Adams/Cumberland, wants to keep fairs in the Keystone State from calling themselves a "state fair."
The state has a rich farming heritage. There are more than 48,000 family farms. It's a $132 billion industry.
And that comes with no shortage of celebration. The Pennsylvania State Association of County Fairs lists more than 100 events across the 67 counties.
Two of them -- in Carlisle and York -- have taken to calling themselves state fairs. According to Pennlive.com, Wallen calls this "a wave" of the term's use.
The Pennsylvania Farm Show fills that niche, but it isn't, strictly speaking, a fair.
It's more like a convention or exposition. It misses many of the defining aspects of a state fair. It takes place indoors in January. It has no midway. There are no Ferris wheels or Tilt-a-Whirls, although there is one vintage carousel and you could ride a tractor.
If a state fair was a patent, the Pennsylvania Farm Show wouldn't infringe upon it.
Wallen wants to make sure no one is confusing a county fair for an official state event. But there are mechanisms to prevent that. The state can sue anyone for falsely representing themselves as a state entity. You can't open a car dealership called the Department of Transportation without expecting PennDOT to get involved.
But where is the infringement here?
A county fair might not have the right to the word "state," but does the Pennsylvania Farm Show get to co-opt the word "fair" when that's not quite right either?
And more importantly, why do we care?
State lawmakers have important things to do. They have work that is not being done. If nothing else, they could start thinking about next year's budget and maybe pass it on time for a change.
Isn't that more critical than obsessing over the semantics of state fairs?
It's important to defend ownership, to protect industry and to stand up for intellectual property rights. There are economic and industrial reasons to make a stand like that.
But if you want to protect the state's state fair, you have to have one first.