Where's the "it should be in the public domain" option???

The spirit of trademark is that no one is allowed to steal your product name. I can't call my product Coca-Cola because it misleads the public.

Owning a registered trademark or copyright shows that you were the first body to obtain that trademark or copyright. Trademarks and copyrights can be challenged for legitimacy as well as first right of use.

There were a lot of patents like this during the dot com boom. People were sneaking in patents on how to make chocolate, then suing chocolate makers. Hershey can obviously show that they have been making chocolate before the patent was filed, therefore they can show this patent to be illegitimate.

The same goes for copyright. It just means that Stephen King was the first to register this book. If someone came forth and claimed he stole the manuscript, the onus is on the claimant to prove he had the manuscript before King registered it.

Trademark is a little trickier, because of fair use and logos and all sorts of weirdness. "The 12th man" will probably not hold up in court, but the 12th man flag may. And that doesn't even get into the contractual side of things. Hell, the NFL may lay claim to the 12th man trademark as part of a league agreement...