Leverkusen Trademark Looser Label

Taking ownership of a derogatory term and wearing it almost as a badge of pride is a proven way to undermine its’ power. Bundesliga side Bayer Leverkusen are quickly becoming experts in that field and they are quite literal about it too.

Bayer Leverkusen now officially own the trademark on “Vizekusen” (Runnerupkusen). Apparently to protect the term from being abused. I presume the logo on the left could fall into that category. We’ll just have to wait and see whether Leverkusen’s lawyers will contact The Offside for the answer.

The term Vizekusen was coined after the 2001/2002 season. Leverkusen reached the final of the DFB-Pokal and Champions League while also leading the Bundesliga table, and Leverkusen missed out on every single trophy. The only ones who managed to top that were Michael Ballack and his Leverkusen team mates on the German national team, who then also went on to finish runner-ups in the World Cup a few weeks later. Following a few unsuspicious seasons in the UEFA Cup places and anonymous runs in the cup competitions, Vizekusen has started to pick up steam again. Leverkusen lost last year’s DFB-Pokal final against Bremen, and more recently, choked once more in the title race after going a Bundesliga record 24 games undefeated from the beginning of the season. So Leverkusen felt it was time to act and deal with the psychological disadvantage the Vizekusen tag brings about.

Vizekusen wasn’t the first and only derogatory term that Bayer Leverkusen trademarked though. In 2006 Leverkusen already registered the term’s Pillendreher and Werksclub – and quite successfully markets the club as Werkself now. The terms refer to the common criticism/cliches of Leverkusen being a company club without fans, history, tradition, flair, who buy success etc.

You can make up your own mind there, as I’m a biased Cologne fan. What is fact though, is that Leverkusen is a rather provincial town and that provinciality shone through, as the club missed out on trademarking Vizekusen’s prettier English counterpart. So if you’re looking to make a fortune out of Leverkusen’s misfortune, go out of the way of Bayer’s lawyers and sell “Neverkusen” merchandise instead.

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Category: Bundesliga