BAA Loses Bid To Block Company's Use Of 'Marathon Monday'

BOSTON (AP) — Most runners know "Marathon Monday" as the day the Boston Marathon is held each April.

But the group that has organized the marathon for more than a century — the Boston Athletic Association — believes Marathon Monday is closely identified with its name.

When a clothing company in Everett, Massachusetts, applied to register "Marathon Monday" in character format for sweatshirts, jackets, hats and other items, the BAA objected, saying the company's use of the mark created a false suggestion of an affiliation with the BAA.

The Trademark Trial and Appeal Board disagreed.

In a decision last week, the board said the BAA failed to prove that Marathon Monday was a close approximation of BAA's name or identity, and had not shown the term points "uniquely and unmistakably" to the BAA.