Category: Trademarks

Trademarks

THE Trademark: How Ohio State University Got a Trademark on the Word “The”

“The Ohio State University.” If you’re an avid watcher of NFL football like myself, you’ve heard former Ohio State football players utter that phrase in their pre-recorded introductions on NBC’s broadcasts of the games. So many Ohio State alums, both football players and non-football players alike, love identifying their school in that fashion.

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Brendan Zdunek
Fun Facts, Trademarks

Tom Brady: The Greatest of All Time (at Trademarks)?

In March 2022, the greatest NFL quarterback of all time, Tom Brady, announced the end of his short-lived “retirement” and would be pursuing new business endeavors. Almost immediately, I saw ads on my Instagram feed for his new athletic clothing line called “BRADY”. What intrigued me the most was not the price of over $100 for a sweatshirt, but the superscript “TM” in the brand’s logo. As a student interested in intellectual property, this made me curious – what else has Brady trademarked?

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Madeline Domenichella
Fun Facts, Trademarks

Battle of the Band Names: Trademark Disputes Between Band Members

A good band name is an incredibly valuable commodity. Pearl Jam might not be one of the most enduring rock bands of all time had they kept their original plan of being named after a disgraced former NBA player, or one. An audience may not recognize individual band members, but when they perform under one famous name, fans flock to support the group.

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Andrew Sutherland
Trademarks

Battle of Breweries – Trademark Style

One might think that if a company is well established, its intellectual property would be de facto protected. But that is not the case. Two of America’s most iconic companies, easily recognizable and hard to confuse, are currently in a battle over trademarks. These two companies are none other than Anheuser-Busch and Yuengling, two of America’s oldest breweries. Yuengling was founded in 1829 in Pottsville, Pennsylvania, Anheuser-Busch, on the other hand was founded in the late 1850s, in St. Louis, Missouri.  But recently these two giants of the industry have been warring over trademark rights. Continue reading “Battle of Breweries – Trademark Style”

Madeleine Morris
Fun Facts, Trademarks

Devil Shoes and Trademark Blues

Now, I wouldn’t call myself a sneakerhead by any definition of the phrase, but certain shoes will forever pique my interest. The classic Jordan 1 silhouette has captivated me since I saw Space Jam as a kid and became entranced with the MJ legend. For decades after that seed of appreciation was planted in my head as a child, I never thought twice about sneaker style. I was more of a chukka guy, to be honest.

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Louay Meroueh
Trademarks

Getting A RISE Out of PepsiCo

While big companies may have dozens of trademarks, smaller and lesser-known companies can also have valid trademarks, as long as they satisfy the trademark criteria.

Can a large company infringe a smaller company’s mark? Yes! This is sometimes referred to as “reverse confusion,” where the small company is the first user and the large company is the later user. But, there can still be confusion among consumers. The larger company may use its money and resources (like ads) to infiltrate the smaller company’s market with a similar mark on similar goods or services.

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Suet Lee
Trade Dress, Trademarks

Trade Dress: Can A Tampon Applicator Get Trademark Protection?

Before taking an intellectual property (IP) course this past fall, I assumed trademarks only applied to brand slogans. I did not realize that trademarks could apply to physical products, too.

Now that I have taken various IP courses and participated in the IP Moot Court team, I see trademark protection everywhere. This made me wonder: can a commonplace item, like an applicator for a tampon, receive trade dress protection?

Before jumping into that answer, let’s first explain what a trade dress is.

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Ariel Katz
Trademarks

Trademarks Aren’t for Losers: Banksy Defeated In Legal Battle With UK Greeting Card Company

Banksy, one of the world’s most notorious street artists, has learned a hard lesson about trademarks. Trademarks is a type of intellectual property (“IP”) that protects things such as brand names and logos. The British artist recently lost a court battle in which the trademark for his popular Flower Thrower image was declared invalid. However, Banksy’s contempt for copyright, which protects artistic expressions such as his graffiti art, and other IP is well documented. Why then did he seek to trademark the Flower Thrower image in the first place? And why was the trademark found invalid? It is all tied to Banksy’s desire keep his identity a secret.

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Lydia Bayley