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United States Patents

The Ohio State University Officially Trademarks the Word 'THE' (wsj.com) 113

Posted by msmash from the how-about-that dept.
schwit1 writes: The Ohio State University has successfully trademarked the word "THE," in a victory for the college and its branding that is sure to produce eye rolls from Michigan fans and other rivals. Stating the full name of the school has become a point of pride for Ohio State's athletes when introducing themselves on television during games. The three-letter article "THE" has also become an important part of the school's merchandise and apparel. The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office approved Ohio State's application Tuesday. The trademark applies to T-shirts, baseball caps and hats.

"'THE' has been a rallying cry in the Ohio State community for many years," said Benjamin Johnson, a spokesman for the university. Ohio State registered the word as a trademark to protect the university's brand, Mr. Johnson said. Ohio State's trademark and licensing program makes about $12.5 million annually for the university, which funds student scholarships and university programs, he said. "Universities historically are very particular about their trademarks, and they go to a lot of lengths to enforce their trademarks," said Josh Gerben, a trademark attorney, who noted Ohio State's trademark application on Twitter. "There is a lot of value in a university's brand."
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The Ohio State University Officially Trademarks the Word 'THE' More

The Ohio State University Officially Trademarks the Word 'THE'

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  • U of M should ... (Score:5, Funny)

    by Syncerus ( 213609 ) on Friday June 24, 2022 @02:12PM (#62648162)

    Trademark the word "Ohio". Now that would be funny.

    • Re:U of M should ... (Score:5, Funny)

      by Whateverthisis ( 7004192 ) on Friday June 24, 2022 @02:35PM (#62648234)
      Their response on twitter was pretty funny [twitter.com].
      • So Ohio State has trouble with The English? Does The Kristina Johnson think that names start with articles? Maybe her first year English book The Foundation Writing and Information Literacy Course has a typo in a few places.
        She is not the only faculty at their school that is confused. Their IT / Web department forgot the as well (osu.edu vs tosu.edu). I would not hire from this school.

      • OMF? Can you explain the joke for non Americans?

        • And Americans, please.

        • Ohio State University, which (like all universities) can also be prefixed with "the", making it "The Ohio State University. So they started a marketing campaign putting the emphasis on the "the" part, making it all upper case (and pronounced with a long e like thee), and the letters giant compared to their logo.

          Here is an article that shows a pic of one of those shirts (and better demonstrates what this trademark is about): https://www.google.com/amp/s/w... [google.com]

          So in response, as a joke, The University of Michig

          • Oh. Hahaha that's good, thanks. :-)

            • So..Technically saying for example ,"This is THE most ridiculous thing I've ever heard" can make way for "Thine ridiculousness mocks me" or "You ridiculous" and technically the first has to be al least reviewed by an editor or moderator? Or how about, for example, I was to have about 100 dozen T-Shirts with the following printed on the front and back..."I went to THE University of Jam-n-Toast and all I got was this ridiculous T-shirt", Depending on if it's "The" is pronounced "Thee" or "Thugh" I may have l

    • Ohio University already trademarked Ohio.

      • Ohio University already trademarked Ohio.

        There was a battle over that a while back as both schools have used "Ohio" on uniforms, etc. The OSU has trademarks on Script Ohio as wel as O-H-I-O done in silhouette using people's arms.

    • Re: (Score:1)

      by jonadab ( 583620 )
      To get the trademark to stick in court, they'd have to _use_ it in their branding. A lot. (That's how trademark law works. This is balanced against the fact that there's no duration limit; you can keep your mark as long as you keep using and defending it.) And yes, that could potentially be somewhat amusing to watch.

      • ... and they do. Basically everywhere their institution is referred to as "Ohio State" or "The Ohio State University" pronounced 'thee' in order to make it sound more pretentious and assholic.

        • ... "The Ohio State University" pronounced 'thee' in order to make it sound more pretentious and assholic.

          The pronunciation is not "pretentious" or "assholic", it's simply correct: https://www.theclassroom.com/e... [theclassroom.com]

          I think you already know that, and I suspect that if they pronounced it "Thuh Ohio State University", you'd call them uneducated.

        • In English, you generally pronounce "the" as thee when it's in front of a vowel, and thuh when it's in front of consonant, so "Thee Ohio State University" is correct, not pretentious.

          • Sure, if you say it as "the Ohio State University". They don't. They say it as " THEE ... Ohio State University" with as heavy an inflection on "the" as you can apply, with a slight pause afterwards.

            That's what makes it pretentious and assholic. As if they're attempting to line up Ohio State next to Princeton or Stanford.

    • I they they could?
      But they could really only use it on stuff mocking the THE OSU now has.
    • As I understand it, this mess started when Ohio University trademarked the word "Ohio." In response, students at Ohio State University started calling it "The Ohio State University," putting particular emphasis on the "The" as a snub against Ohio U.

  • OK. Can someone provide more details (Score:5, Informative)

    by DarkRookie2 ( 5551422 ) on Friday June 24, 2022 @02:13PM (#62648166)
    Like how they are allowed to use the word "The"
    IIRC, trademarks need to be narrow. As in can only target certain things.
    Like, is this a case of no other college/semi-pro/pro sports team trying to add a "The" in front, but there can still be a The Bob Burger Joint.

    • Re:OK. Can someone provide more details (Score:5, Informative)

      by K. S. Kyosuke ( 729550 ) on Friday June 24, 2022 @02:18PM (#62648178)
      Technische Hogeschool Eindhoven would definitely object to this as well.

    • Every team is preceded by the word "the". Just read the sports section or listen to the TV. You'll hear it EVERYWHERE.

      The San Francisco 49ers
      The LA Lakers.
      The Golden State Warriors
      The Boston Celtics
      The Miami Dolphins

      In EVERY case, when referring to the team, you precede it with the word "the" because, even though its mede up of multiple people, the team itself is a singular. That's how grammar works. This is a seriously stupid-ass trademark that shouldn't have been granted. And really, OSU and its lawy

      • Re: (Score:1)

        by Anonymous Coward
        You have used our trademarked word 11 times in your post. Our licensing fee invoice is on its way.

      • even though its mede up of multiple people, the team itself is a singular. That's how American grammar works.

        FTFY. It's common in British English to refer to sports teams in the plural.

        • Not just sports teams, but collective entities of any sort. Very odd, as the collective noun itself is quite singular. âoeIâ, after all, am comprised of many, many cells, so perhaps I should use the royal âoeweâ in the UK?

          Iâ(TM)ve adjusted and can cope ðY, but I still find it odd.

      • I guess it means that no team can sell merchandise with "The" in front of their name. Yeah, when people speak about the team, they will say "the" before the team's name, but have you ever seen any merchandise with "The" in front of the team name? I haven't.

    • Re:OK. Can someone provide more details (Score:5, Informative)

      by Whateverthisis ( 7004192 ) on Friday June 24, 2022 @02:32PM (#62648222)
      This wouldn't even be a story if people understood what trademarks are. It's not a copyright (which actually gives you ownership over a certain expression of an art form), it's just a logo. Trademarks have to be distinguishing and within a narrow field. So having the word "THE" for a University does not preclude someone from making a homeopathic medicine clinic called "Therapeutic Homeopathic Excellence (THE)" or an aerospace company calling their new passenger plane "THE" because those are so totally different fields of use that a customer wouldn't confuse them.

      So let's segway that in to what a trademark is. It's a visual representation of your company and/or product to distinguish it from a competitor's product. So it's about making sure that people know what the hell they're buying; it's about products and customers and how it's represented. In fact, part of getting the trademark approved is you have to submit a picture of the product as it's sold showing you're using the logo in act of commerce. it also has to be unique and distinguishing but not descriptive. So for example, the couldn't trademark "University" when they're a university, because that's descriptive. However "The" has a unique connotation apparently to THE Ohio State, and that's what they proved.

      And again, it comes down to commerce. If, as the articles claim, that THE has become kind of a rallying cry for The Ohio State University to the point where they actually sell merchandise with the word on it and their students and alumni understand what it means and it's contextual to The Ohio State University, then the trademark actually clamps down on anyone trying to leverage the THE connotation by selling merchandise that the University doesn't benefit from, undercutting the university's sales of it's merchandise. So in the end it's more likely a way to clamp down on counterfeit stuff.

      • Re: (Score:3)

        by Holi ( 250190 )
        Segway is a trademark, I think you meant segue.
      • It seems a gray area at best - the World Wrestling Federation lost a lawsuit to the World Wildlife Fund, and ended up changing their name to WWE. Who knows, maybe they could have made WWF in a totally different shape and been fine, IANAL, but on the surface trademarks seem to sometimes go beyond the legitimate protection of artistic expression.

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by mjwx ( 966435 )
        Times Higher Education, a publication that ranks universities already operates under the initials THE, I.E. the global THE rankings (which universities get in a bit of a froth over as a better ranking attracts more students). https://www.timeshighereducati... [timeshighereducation.com]
        • Good call, but it's different. Again, trademarks relate specifically to commerce; it's not about what is and is not related to Universities, rather it's about whether a consumer would be confused by two similar brands, making a mistake and buying a product for one brand when they intended to buy for another. Times Higher Education is in the publication business, selling advertisements in exchange for viewership/readership. The Ohio State University is in the business of selling both education services as

      • ok but for the sake of argument just the word "the" is filed. So holding two pool noodles up side by side, one of the ohio state (thee) product and one random one for example.."the bench gave me splinters", depending on where you do this you are liable?

        • So again, No. That doesn't work. It's specifically around clothing and apparel only, and they would never be able to get "the" in every sense of the word. If the word "The" solely on it's own has distinctive meaning and htey could prove that, they get it, but if you went around and made a sweatshirt that had "The Good, the Bad, and The Pool Noodle", that wouldn't work because an average consumer could tell the difference. You just can't make a piece of clothing and put the word The, by itself, and sell

      • I do not mean to be a dick (but I guess I am going to be one).

        So let's segway that in to what a trademark is.

        The word you are looking for is segue. It is pronounced segway, but is spelled segue. Segway is a two wheeled scooter-like thingy.

    • Consumers are not likely to confuse "The University of Texas" with "The Ohio State University( aka THE)". Therefore the University of Texas could still sell shirts that say "The University of Texas".

      On the other hand, consumers in Columbus, Ohio seeing a red and white shirt emblazoned with just "THE" will identify this shirt with THE, the nickname of The Ohio State University. Therefore only the university (and their licensees) can sell those.

      The question with trademark is always "likelihood of consumer c

      • consumers in Columbus, Ohio seeing a red and white shirt emblazoned with just "THE" will identify this shirt with THE, the nickname of The Ohio State University. Therefore only the university (and their licensees) can sell those.

        The question with trademark is always "likelihood of consumer confusion" - will the buyer think they are buying a the Ohio State University hat?

        Interestingly, consumers not familiar with Ohio State will think "what in the world?" After receiving an explanation of the connection to Ohio State, consumers would then think "what in the world?" followed by "really?" followed by "that's stupid."

        I get the desire to distinguish the acronym from other state universities in Oregon and Oklahoma. However, the use of "the" sounds a bit pretentious. Sort of like introducing oneself as "the Mr. Smith." It also is a bit nonsensical. After all, is there anothe

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by fermion ( 181285 )
      I think the most useful part of this story is it points to the limited language skills and creativity of the school. If I were hiring, I would definitely put these graduates on the no hire list.

      • Re: (Score:1)

        by jonadab ( 583620 )
        It's a state university; they have to be like that because they're not allowed to have meaningful admissions standards because of the way they are funded partly out of tax revenue. They have to accept basically anyone who lives in the state and can cough up a certificate of high school attendance, and so their requirements for graduation have to be dumbed down correspondingly, lest they have an insanely high dropout rate (which would scare away students even worse than a high graduated-but-learned-nothing

        • Re: (Score:1)

          by jonadab ( 583620 )
          I should note that state schools can and often do have _specific programs_ that are non-trivial to get into and have meaningful academic standards; successfully completing one of these programs, is a meaningful accomplishment and a meaningful job qualificiation. But these are pretty much always graduate-level programs.

          A bachelor's degree from a state university, however, is poop on a stick, barely more meaningful than a high school diploma.

        • Re: (Score:2)

          by fermion ( 181285 )
          The key difference between a state school and a private school is the state school does have specific requirements for entry. The may be low, but they exists. Private schools on the other hand merely increase the bribes required if the standards are not met. If you can buy a building, or the add is ink officer a new Mercedes, your kid is in. That is how Trump got a degree from a highly prestigious college.

    • Re: (Score:3)

      by lkcl ( 517947 )

      Like how they are allowed to use the word "The"

      IIRC, trademarks need to be narrow. As in can only target certain things.

      Trademarks have "Categories". a Trademark within the declared "Category" is *only* enforceable within that Category. it is perfectly acceptable for a... a... Chiropracter to Trademark "THE (Twist His Enema)" within the specific category associated with the Medical Profession for example, and that Trademark would have absolutely nothing to do with Ohio's Trademark of "THE", which is in Category... Clothing GS0251.

      https://uspto.report/TM/885719... [uspto.report]

      so you can't have just the word "THE" on "Clothing, namely, t

      • Ok. Cool.
        So this is not as crazy as everyone is making seem.

        The crazy part is all the Buck Eye fans shouting this enough for it to become a thing.
      • But the Twist His Enema chiropractor can have T-Shirts and hats with his trademark "THE" on them selling through ebay for example? How about a sports team called "The One" selling "THE 1" branded sports apparel?

        • Re: (Score:2)

          by lkcl ( 517947 )

          But the Twist His Enema chiropractor can have T-Shirts and hats with his trademark "THE" on them selling through ebay for example?

          if there's the risk of them being "confused" with Ohio's Category "clothing", then no.

          How about a sports team called "The One" selling "THE 1" branded sports apparel?

          almost certainly not, if "THE" is in capital letters like that.

          it comes down to "Confusion" could someone who has no idea about Twist-Chiropracter go "oh, i thought that was an Ohio Sports T-shirt", and if the answer's "yes" then it's a Trademark violation.

          • What if the chiropractor had the trademark first and sold his apparel before the Ohio team? Could the chiropractor block the Ohio sports team from selling apparel because his customers may confuse their apparel with his? Or is this more of "larger group of confused people" determines who can block whose merchandise?

      • so you can't have just the word "THE" on "Clothing,
        unless you repeat it, front and then back perhaps?
        Then when challenged, you say it's the name of a uk beat combo from the late 70s on.

    • Like how they are allowed to use the word "The" IIRC, trademarks need to be narrow. As in can only target certain things. Like, is this a case of no other college/semi-pro/pro sports team trying to add a "The" in front, but there can still be a The Bob Burger Joint.

      It's specially for clothing such as hats, T-shirts etc. Actually rather narrow.

    • Re: (Score:1)

      by jonadab ( 583620 )
      > Like how they are allowed to use the word "The"

      That's not the interesting question. The interesting question is how they're allowed to stop _other_ people from using the word "The"...

      > IIRC, trademarks need to be narrow.

      Depends, but mostly yes, when the trademark is a pre-existing word (to say nothing of a bloody _article_ for crying out loud), it's going to have to be very narrow indeed.

      If your trademark is something like "Pepto Bismol", which has really never had any other potential meanings exce

    • Re: (Score:3)

      by godrik ( 1287354 )

      The trademark protects the usage of uniquely "THE" on an article of clithing relating to college sports.

      It does not prevent a college team to call themselves "The football team at $localcollege" or even selling shirts with that name on. But it would prevent them from selling shirts with only the word "THE" on it or anything that can be confused to be the same thing. For instance if they were trying to seel a baseball cap with THE in font 300 and "footbal team at $localcollege" in font 7, then that would lik

  • great going. This is just awesome /s
  • That's fine as long as I can continue to manufacture and sell Washington Redskin condoms.

    "Washington Redskin condoms, when you want to score without a penalty."
  • If this does not make you question how college fees are spent nothing will. Ridiculous ways of time and money.

    • Re:How âoefeesâ are spent (Score:5, Informative)

      by Registered Coward v2 ( 447531 ) on Friday June 24, 2022 @03:04PM (#62648332)

      If this does not make you question how college fees are spent nothing will. Ridiculous ways of time and money.

      Licensing fees. Universities make money licensing trademarks, from Michigan's Block M to Notre Dame's ND. Without trademarks there are no licensing fees. The OSU has at least 90 plus trademarks, including the Number 7 on a specific football jersey design, its Block O logo as well as THE JAMES in conjunction with cancer treatment, research, etc.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by godrik ( 1287354 )

      Actually, OSU's football program pays for a whole lot of the infrastructure for the university. (Used to work there a while back.)

    • I questioned it. Then I remember that trademarks and marketing are money spent on the pursuit of making money thus neither a water of time or money.

  • As a former employee of another Ohio school... (Score:5, Interesting)

    by rnturn ( 11092 ) on Friday June 24, 2022 @02:27PM (#62648218)

    ... we always thought it was pretty damned arrogant of OSU to declare itself " The Ohio State University" when there are several other "state" universities in Ohio. We would have just been fine with " An Ohio State University", though.

    • ... we always thought it was pretty damned arrogant of OSU to declare itself " The Ohio State University" when there are several other "state" universities in Ohio. We would have just been fine with " An Ohio State University", though.

      Complain to the state legislature; they named Ohio A&M The Ohio State University.

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by rnturn ( 11092 )
        Ha! Likely the source of their arrogance, then---a cozy relationship that they think their history and proximity to Columbus gets them. I recall being at a meeting where the Gov announced that we would be receiving state funding for a project and the president of OSU pretty much stomped out of the room in a huff after the announcement.
  • Is it the same as "thee", or does it rhyme with "duh"?
  • I'm from Ohio and I feel a bit dumber now. Thanks The Ohio State University.

  • Just THE USA (Score:3)

    by ukoda ( 537183 ) on Friday June 24, 2022 @03:54PM (#62648494) Homepage
    This applies in just the USA, or should I say this applies in just *** USA, right?

    It sounds like something the rest of the world can ignore. In the meantime I would suggest the simple solution is if the population of the USA simply starts speaking in a different language. I'm sure you guys will have no trouble agreeing on which one.
  • When I was in graduate school at the University of Texas in Austin in 1978, you could buy window decals that just said "The University" in the Texas burnt orange.
  • with pro corporate, anti-consumer judges for years. This is the results. Change who you vote for if you don't like it. Show up to your primary election.

  • Will they trademark being hi in the middle and round at both ends?

  • For Ohio state alum, that is about the only word they can call spell. Seriously, you know how much work it takes to get their students not to type teh?

    • For Ohio state alum, that is about the only word they can call spell. Seriously, you know how much work it takes to get their students not to type teh?

      You think that's hard? Try teaching a Michigan grad to type the letter M.

  • Here is teh solution around infringment.

  • I could easily understand allowing a trademark for "THE Ohio State University" or something like that, but allowing a trademark on just the word "the"??!! I realize that trademarks are only enforceable within their given industry, but it just seems ridiculous that other institutions of higher learning will be limited in their ability to use an article of the English language in their names and marketing materials.

    • I could easily understand allowing a trademark for "THE Ohio State University" or something like that, but allowing a trademark on just the word "the"??!! I realize that trademarks are only enforceable within their given industry, but it just seems ridiculous that other institutions of higher learning will be limited in their ability to use an article of the English language in their names and marketing materials.

      They aren't prohibited from that; only using "THE" on hats and T-shirts; something I doubt they care about because the market for that is sports fans, and many fans would recognize THE as symbolizing Ohio State. "THE" trademark is not that way out, ND has a trademark on a green 3 leaf clover design, Michigan on its block M, and in a bit of irony Penn State on "FOR THE KIDS."

      There's more to the story than the /. headline. Marc Jacobs also attempted to trademark THE for clothing, resulting in a fight over t

  • I assume there has to be more to this story than is covered in the blurb, but all the links are to paywalled sites or Twitter which I try to avoid like I would any diseased sewer. For those of us who don't follow sports, is THE some kind of acronym or something, or are we literally talking about the word "the"?

    • I assume there has to be more to this story than is covered in the blurb, but all the links are to paywalled sites or Twitter which I try to avoid like I would any diseased sewer. For those of us who don't follow sports, is THE some kind of acronym or something, or are we literally talking about the word "the"?

      It started a while back when pro athletes, manly football players, when announcing where they went to school, started saying The Ohio State University (its official name) with an accent on the The. It caught on and OSU decided to capitalize on the licensing opportunity. Trademark licensing is big money for some schools.

    • I meant to include a link to the backstory: Marc Jacobs and Ohio State fight over trademark to THE> [thefashionlaw.com]
  • I plan to trademark the term 'ahole' but allow it to be used cost-free.

  • There's an audiophile equipment show in Newport Beach, running for many years, called "The High End" or "THE" for short. Will they be forced to change their name because of this? Granted, the official abbreviation is "T.H.E." but hardly anybody includes the periods in common reference.

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