The battle over who owns the phrase “Who Dat” is no closer to being won any time soon.
Ernest Svenson, attorney representing T-shirt shop Fleurty Girl, said a Nov. 10 hearing regarding Who Dat? Inc.’s lawsuit against the store, the NFL, the New Orleans Saints and T-shirt shop Storyville didn’t deal with the issue.
Most important to New Orleans residents is whether the phrase is in the public domain.
“The heart of the lawsuit is, ‘Do they have the ability to own ‘Who Dat?'” Svenson said.
Unfortunately for business owners, Svenson said the issue “won’t be dealt with for the foreseeable future.”
Svenson said the Fleurty Girl Facebook page was shut down Oct. 26 after “Who Dat” trademark owner Steve Monistere told Facebook the page used “unauthorized content.”
Courtney Pittman, Fleurty Girl employee, said shop owner Lauren Thom created a second Facebook page titled “Bring Back Fleurty Girl” when the original page was disabled.
Pittman said the page gained thousands of fans overnight and several posted comments on the page in support of their favorite T-shirt shop.
“We got a lot of people commenting on how it wasn’t right that they could shut our page down,” Pittman said.
Svenson said he wrote Facebook a letter claiming the business shouldn’t have the page taken away because the phrase was only used on a small portion.
Svenson said Thom received notification Nov. 9 that the shop’s Facebook page had been reinstated — under certain conditions.
Svenson said Thom was asked to change her profile picture to one that didn’t show any of the store’s “Who Dat” T-shirts.
Pittman said the store is also no longer allowed to hold score-guessing contests for Saints games on the page, but that’s not related to the “Who Dat” controversy.
“Facebook just said you’re not allowed to do contests,” she said. “That just came from them looking at us more closely.”
Pittman said customers wanted to attend the Nov. 10 hearing, but Thom thought it would be best if they showed their support from home.
“I think she was afraid too much attention would upset the judge,” Pittman said.
Monistere said Who Dat? Inc. is not issuing statements at this time.
 
–
Contact Rachel Warren at [email protected]