UPDATE 03/11/05:
Net Effect unceremoniously pulled the Monopoly-styled graphics from Parade of Homes web site earlier yesterday, no mention on web site as to why. Neither the Home Builders Associations or the Herald-Tribune have yet issued a public statement on whether or not the Hasbro-owned graphics were licensed for use in the Parade of Homes ad campaign.

See below for updated screen captures.

Oooooooooooops!
The Sarasota-Manatee Parade of Homes is having a full-out media blitz, using a graphic motif from the Hasbro board game, Monopoly as its theme. Problem: according to Hasbro, nobody bothered to get permission to use the graphics and theme elements. Hasbro owns the copyrights and trademarks on the game.

The Parade of Homes is a jointly sponsored annual promotion from the Sarasota and the Manatee Home Builders Associations. The annual promotion highlights the newest designs in upper-end luxury homes on the west coast of Florida. The west coast of Florida, particularly Manatee and Sarasota Counties, is currently undergoing the biggest real estate boom in its history with many homes exceeding $1 million in price. This is a multi-billion dollar industry that is being promoted under the two homebuilders' associations.

Printed materials in the campaign (shown at the bottom of this page) utilize photos of the actual Monopoly board game. These include a brochure and an 80-page magazine-style full-sized newspaper supplement that was designed by and distributed in the Sarasota Herald-Tribune in their Friday, February 25 edition.

The official Parade of Homes web site, designed by Net Effect, was somewhat less reliant on use of actual Monopoly graphics and used a more derivative design. There was, however, no missing the distinctive look and feel of the Monopoly game board on the Parade of Homes web site, as well as the use of the ever-so-slightly-altered Mr. Monopoly character [Monopoly-styled graphics were removed from the web site on March 10, 2005 with no explanation given -- see screen captures below to see what the original site looked like].

After receiving a tip that Hasbro had not authorized the usage of the graphic elements in the ad campaign, we called Hasbro on Friday, March 4. In a conversation with Mark Morris, the Executive Director of Public Relations for Hasbro, Morris stated: "I am not aware that they [the Parade of Homes' use of Monopoly graphics] are licensed and we've referred the matter to our legal department."

An e-mail from Hasbro, dated the same day, referenced the Parade of Homes web site and stated, "This group does not have permission to use the MONOPOLY game images in this manner." The e-mail confirmed that the matter had been turned over to Hasbro's legal department and further stated that the legal department "...will take the appropriate steps" [Whenever Hasbro references the game title, it is always in all-capital letters].

On Monday, March 7, we were finally able to contact someone within the Herald-Trib's advertising department. Sandy Heath, the ad exec in charge of the Parade of Homes promotion, stated that the Herald-Trib had come up with the Monopoly motif in a brainstorming session with folks from the home builders associations. Heath further stated that Hasbro had been contacted and the product usage had been licensed.

Heath stated she had not actually seen the licensing agreement herself, that someone else had been responsible for procuring it. Heath stated that, as far as she knew, Hasbro had not required any specific wording to be used in conjunction with the image usage.

When told that Hasbro was disputing the existence of any licensing agreement with Parade of Homes for image usage and that Hasbro had stated that the matter had been referred to their legal department, Heath stated that she wanted to get a look for herself at the licensing agreement that the Herald-Trib has on file. She promised to get back to us with more info. We're still waiting.

Would you like fries with that?
Hasbro has been very protective of the use of its graphics and has been involved in lawsuits against Atari and the makers of Ghettopoly in the past for trademark and copyright violations and infringements. Hasbro is currently in the process of giving a legal smackdown to RadGames for selling an unauthorized set of add-on properties and rules to the original Monopoly game. In the RadGames case, Business Wire quoted Hasbro prez Frank Bifulco as stating "We take all infringements of our brands very seriously."

On the other side side of the fence, both McDonald's and The Florida Lottery have legally licensed the use of the Monopoly images for their recurring promotions. McDonald's has a semi-regularly recurring Monopoly scratch-off game that offers free food and other prizes. The Florida Lottery's Monopoly game card can be seen further down on this page.

Curiously, whenever the local Parade of Homes is referenced, it is followed by the initials "TM," meaning U.S. Trademark. In searching through the U.S. Patent and Trademark database, we could find no corresponding trademark assigned to this particular use of the phrase "Parade of Homes" nor to the current logo. There is a current non-exclusive trademark for a differing logo with the same phrase, but that trademark is owned by a builders association out of Fort Wayne, Indiana, and that trademark only applies when the particular logo that the Fort Wayne group developed is used.

There's nothing in the U.S. Patent and Trademark database that we could find that would indicate that the "TM" attached to the phrase "Parade of Homes" here in Sarasota and Manatee is even remotely applicable, especially when the phrase is attached to the image of Mr. Monopoly, which in turn is a trademarked image that belongs to Hasbro.

The Sarasota Herald-Tribune is owned by The New York Times.

The Parade of Homes promotion is jointly sponsored by the Home Builders Association of Manatee County and the Home Builders Association of Sarasota County.

Parker Brothers originally owned the Monopoly board game. In subsequent years, Parker Brothers was bought up by Milton Bradley, which in turn was bought up by Hasbro.

Accompanying graphics and screen captures:

John Patten is the head of Web Operations for Creative Pages, and has worked in broadcasting for over 12 years. He can also be incredibly rude at times.