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Barb Macfarlane and Pete Marczyk, husband-and-wife founders of Marczyk Fine Foods, were so excited about the Denver Broncos going to the Super Bowl that their talented staffers dressed up the Marczyk cow in Broncos gear for the weekly newsletter, right over over some tasty ideas for Super Bowl snacks. And faster than you could empty a bowl of housemade Disco Jim's pimento cheese dip, they received a cease-and-desist order from the Denver Broncos Football Club. Not only does the National Football League consider "Super Bowl" an NFL trademark that can only be used with written permission (unless you're one of the billions of media outlets hyping the hell out of the game, that is), but the Broncos don't appreciate any unauthorized use of "Bronco Marks." See also: Boulder brewery renames Broncos beer after cease-and-desist letter from the NFL
"So we took away our dressed-up cow," says Macfarlane, "but we'll still cheer for our Capitol city of 'Colorado wild or partially tamed horses usually found on the western plains!'"
And for that description of Denver's football team, she thanks Marty Jones, who created it after West Flanders Brewing Co. received its own cease-and-desist letter from the NFL legal department regarding its Brett On the Broncos beer.
According to the NFL, West Flanders was "... engaging in unauthorized promotional use of the NFL Marks (including inter alia, the AFC word mark and the Denver Broncos word mark and color combination) in connection with the promotion of your business..."
West Flanders did not change the color of its beer (just as Marzyck's Disco Jim's dip remains orange), but it did come up with a new name -- Omaha! Omaha! Brett! And to avoid any future violations, brewery spokesman Marty Jones came up with a new name for the Denver Broncos: "Go, Wild or Only Partially Tamed Horses of the Western US Plains!"
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