Gannon has a great personality...just because he is young and immature is no reason to cry...there is nothing wrong with immaturity.

The PDGA could just have the company sign a form that they did a trademark research and that there is no pending trademark for the name

I am curious. Why were there so many negative comments about CBS taking on some coverage of disc golf? Doesn't anyone want to see this sport grow? I find it funny how when it suits, people will talk/complain about growing the sport. Then, when a major station wants to air coverage, people switch to "gatekeeping mode" and make negative comments. I for one find it to be awesome. As an example: During the pandemic CBS Sports and FOX Sports started airing E-Sports like Rocket League. That game blew up and tournaments found a large uptick in viewership, attendance, and a big increase with payouts in tournaments. Why would anyone not want to increase exposure of this sport?

With the money spent on CBS they could buy me enough disc to where I could throw 500'+ I know just a few disc is all it'll take maybe a few different balances will help

A question of balance you say? Maybe by Tuesday afternoon they will see the other side of life. Hope someone gets the puns

Easy fix- call it the Equilibrium ✌️

Just rename it the ‘New Balance’. Legal problem solved!

Maybe I need to get rid of my shoes!

nice costume!

"BA-lance" ...... Aka. Bad Ass Lance 😂 problem F-n solved 🤘👽🍀

How on earth can you file for a trademark for a product before you start trading that product?

Subscribed. Love your work! It has been a while but there have always been lawsuits in discgolf. I think Lightning Discs and Innova had at least 20 of them...and if I had to guess, I think MVP have the rights. Doubt the PDGA can even help here. Only thing what would help them(pdga) is to have a list what name is pending for approval but that is for next time. Disc golf on a national channel? Yes please! Been on tv myself a few times talking about discgolf so I am all for it! The more promotion the better!!

Just call it Wild Balance and be done with it

Seems like essential discs is just using this as publicity. Not saying thats why they named it the balance but def. Why they wont change it.

As soon as MVP uses the name, and finalizes the trademark, they then get the protection they would of a normal trademark, and it happens retroactively

My mans always getting them birdies

MVP clearly put in the trademark for the midrange in Dec. 2023, 5 months earlier than Essential Discs. Right now it is only a matter of pride for Essential Discs to keep putting up a fight. I think they need to come to an agreement. PDGA, in my opinion, needs to look into trademark filings, prior to approving discs, just to avoid this in the future. But that's just me.

Equilibrio

One company could work on a different spelling like latitude 64 and Discraft did with Zombie and Zombee. Balance and Balanze?

Just call the disc The Equilibrium. You’re welcome.

MVP needs to act like an adult and choose a different name for the disc.... it really is that simple. if there is ALREADY a disc that has that name AND has already went through pdga approval, then that means the name is off limits. period. do the right thing and just come up with a different name. its not that big of a deal. trying to "steal" the name of the disc away from a competitor company that has already established it is a extremely petty and childish move..... shame on MVP for this.

I could be very wrong, but how can the fact that you bave a pending trademark on the word 'Balance' be cover? For one, it looks like most of the approved trademarks are for lines of discs or technology, not disc mold names. Am I as a disc manufacturer supposed to see that and say to myself "Oh, must be a disc mold name, better not use that ever."? Second, I agree this isn't up to the PDGA to adjudicate. They dont have someone on payroll that has time to look through all legal filings for every company to see if that name was used or is intended to be used. Sifting through their own records seems like something they should do, and they may have done that and approved both.

As much as I think the PDGA is in desperate need of some major major realignment to come down to earth, which is why I haven't renewed my membership in 8 years because of it, as a TM attorney of over 20 years, no blame whatsoever should be placed on them in this instance. This is a clear case under the law. Let the two fight it out, but the reality is, who cares what you call a disc? Call it Simon #13, doesn't matter. We all go for the one with the right color to get to the basket without hitting water and getting lost. Don't get me started on the obscene DM labeling after such a straightforward system of PD, DD, FD, etc. Prodigy is even worse. I have some minty first run doom snake things in my collection that I should probably flip. The chips will fly, and so will these two discs. I hope Simon gets some European Insight and lets the whole thing go and calls it the ballerina. This is just stupid off-season limp flexing. I call things out for what they do wrong, but in this case the PDGA is not even a player, nor should be. Blame it on the DGPT, or Anthon, or Nikko. It's that level of absurdity. Think outside the disc as this happens all the time in the beer world. So many breweries, so many "creative names". There are easy ways to solve this, and the USPTO is not the way. Because I can tell you that both discs will fly. And they will be just like a thousand other midrange discs that we already have access to and throw. It's a pathetic money grab. Just like most things disc gold these days. Again, we throw frisbees. TM. And wgaf about CBS? Or is that a new Control Balance Stable? Unreal.

Court of public opinion does mean crap. We are a nation of laws. Trademarks and copyrights are legally binding. The pdga is not a legally governing body.

It's absurd that any company would try to trademark the word "Balance".

is the smaller company made by the MVP brand?

one thing that wasnt really answered... is the mold similar? or is it just the same name. if its the same name and a similar mold, thats one thing, but if the mold is totally different I think thats a whole different discussion

I just want to take a moment to say thank you for constantly featuring me and giving me credit! I love the work you do; I don’t think I’ve missed a single video from you guys-they’re always worth a watch!

The PDGA does not police disc names. I can see a judge throwing this out of court when it's pointed out that at least 4 companies have had discs named Eagle, and at least three have discs named Griffin.

All manufacturers don't need to make a shift, just the one who don't do their due diligence on trademarks before submitting a disc.

I feel like this is drama I don’t even want to hear.

Simple, register the Japanese word for balance: Baransu. Save a fortune on needless lawyers' fees. This isn't exactly rocket surgery now, is it?

sunstein

I have to be that guy, sorry. ALL claims of "prototype" on a golf disc are lies, plain and simple. A prototype is defined as the *single* item upon which all production items are based. There can never be more than one. And so, there is only one prototype of each disc - and every single one of them belong to the PDGA, and were used for disc certification purposes. So, next time anyone claims to have a "prototype" disc, you are free to simply laugh at the lame marketing strategy of the company involved. I have eight pre-production, or pre-prototype discs in my collection - all supplied nicely by my good buddy Simon at RPM. Thanks, guys! :)

I’ll bite. Where do I find the CBS disc golf coverage.

Trademarks in the US has and will always be first to use in commerce, and not first to file. The disc would probably end up being renamed if it was brought to a legal court.

On this ‘Balance’ Simon said the first print run didn’t even do what he wanted out of it. The name should be the least of their worries. He said if the disc is printed even microns of difference then the disc flys with different stabilities. Ok, fine.. you can’t print disc with reliable flight characteristics. This might be a lucky happenstance, they just aren’t approaching it correctly. Simon and MVP could launch the first line of disc that looks and feels the exact same in the hand but flys differently. Example - I could buy 2 ‘Balance’ Disc but have one fly Overstable, and the other fly understable. The genius of this is a player would get used to the way a disc feels in hand (rim size, material, etc) and the way a disc releases from the hand. This would actually be more of a pro level disc. It would increase accuracy through elimination of physical disc variation. The key to the whole process is flight numbers that have been verified. Every print run would need to be tested indoors by flight machine. If a player can read the numbers on a disc and know exactly how it will fly then they can fill their bag with a bunch of the same disc (also a huge benefit to the manufacturer). Disc will need to have a premium price because of additional cost in flight testing but that’s why it’s ‘PRO’. I’d much rather spend a little bit of extra money and get a disc that I know exactly the way it’s gonna fly than waste my money buying a disk that I’ve been told flys one way only to find out it’s the opposite when I get to course. In fact ‘Balance’ is the perfect name for a disc that flys with a bunch of different stabilities.

Lol It’s a dumb name anyway!!! It’s not a super unique word has many meanings … but I wouldn’t support the smaller company here as it’s just a money attention grab

No it doesn't fall on the PDGA. They aren't there to solve name disputes or copyright issues.

mvp filed for the name first doesnt that makenit theres if they chose to go to court?

Once again the pdga shows us how big of a joke they are as a governing body.

Im wondering what simon thinks about the whole disc naming situation. I feel like he'd be the voice of reason in the whole thing. I don't know the man, but he strikes me as a pretty cool human.

Poop

Arghhhhghh 😅

Woot first! Love the content, keep it up!