Some musings – I was surprised to read about Ohio State University’s Registration of the trademark OHIO and equally surprised to learn that the university had filed a trademark infringement action against a perceived infringer, Teespring, 2:14-cv-00397. A little research revealed a few funny things. First the article read: “The Columbus Dispatch reports that Ohio State slapped Teespring with a trademark infringement suit over a T-shirt the company was selling featuring generic fans forming the letters O-H-I-O.”

I read that and thought “wait a minute,” how can someone claim exclusive rights to “Ohio,” no matter how it is written.

Ohio State’s Registered Mark, U.S. Registration No. 4297349, is actually directed to a fanciful depiction, ala the Village People’s YMCA, 4 human silhouettes forming the letters OHIO. The Infringer’s use was substantially identical.

While I’m a huge fan and strong advocate of non-traditional marks (sound, color, smell), that mark still struck as a bit of a reach. Is it just me or does that seem like they are claiming proprietary rights in scenes a faire (to borrow a term from copyright law) that ought to be in the public domain?

Well a little more digging revealed the true story. Teespring is actually accused of infringing and distributing “counterfeits and colorable imitations” of many of Ohio State’s most famous marks, both registered and common law. The lawsuit is anything but “a trademark infringement suit over a T-shirt the company was selling featuring generic fans forming the letters O-H-I-O,” it’s a perfectly reasonable and appropriate trademark infringement action directed to wholesale misappropriation and use of many of Ohio State’s proprietary marks. So much for the accuracy of the “sound bite.”