The brand new Dallas Cowboys training camp locker room has a sign on the wall with three words that may seem familiar to a group of people in Foxborough.
Cowboys new training camp locker room has "Do Your Job" on wall. Patriots have three trademarks to that phrase. pic.twitter.com/IsfDkrJO2t
— Darren Rovell (@darrenrovell) August 21, 2016
Indeed, “Do Your Job” is a common phrase heard on the sidelines of the New England Patriots. After the Patriots win in Super Bowl XLIX, NFL Films even produced a movie about the team with that title.
So, the obvious question is, can the Cowboys get in any trouble for this?
As best we can tell, no. Whether it’s trademarked or not, people are allowed to use that phrase. If they weren’t, then bosses everywhere would be in a lot of trouble when talking to employees.
What Dallas cannot do is to profit from the phrase, unless they strike an agreement with New England.
Such a deal would not be without precedent. The Seattle Seahawks and Texas A&M University have an agreement over the shared used of the phrase “12th man,” which you can read more about here.
But while an agreement is possible, some sort of arrangement between competing teams would seem unlikely.
Unless some sort of agreement is reached, Cowboys owner Jerry Jones would be smart not to produce any “Do Your Job” products.