BBC “ripped off” copyrighted slogan from bestselling book by British black authors

Slay In Your Lane is a bestselling guide to life for black British women by Yomi Adegoke and Elizabeth Uviebinené. The title came from a text exchange between the author and her friend and, knowing it was something special, they trademarked the phrase.

The next year it became clear that the BBC also thought it was special as they used the exact phrase, and in a suspiciously similar font, in a BBC Sport advertisement. As positive as the adverts are- featuring a diverse cast of strong, amazing athletes- it turned out they never bothered to contact Yomi about using her trademarked phrase. The BBC insisted their lawyers had checked and were told: “The use of the headline was sufficiently far removed from the goods and services covered by the trademark registration in place.”

Yomi Adegoke & Elizabeth Uviebinené

The audacity of the major corporation stealing intellectual property, and seemingly still not seeing a problem when contacted by the author, prompted Yomi to take to Twitter and warn others. The reaction was less than supportive from BBC Sport, or their fans. Much of the responses the women got were very typical of what black women experience when they speak out about being treated badly – click here to read Yomi’s experience in her own words.

Slay In Your Lane