On August 6 DNC assigned 31 marks associated with Yosemite National Park to Yosemite Hospitality LLC, which is the subsidiary of Aramark that now runs the concessions at YNP. These presumably will be assigned back to National Parks Service when Aramark’s concession ends in 2031 or thereabouts. Thus comes to a conclusion DNC’s attempt to steal from the American public the names of iconic sites (or at least steal the ability of the NPS, via an agent, to emblazon those names on shirts and caps and coffee mugs).
But trademark trolls are never far from the trough, and the newest one comes from Columbus, Ohio, in the form of Ohio State University. Or as it likes to refer to itself, The Ohio State University. Because, I guess, people might confuse it with some other Ohio State University. On August 8, OSU filed TM application no. 88571984, for the word “THE” on t-shirts, baseball caps and hats. The attorney of record is a Samantha Quimby, hopefully no relation to Diamond Joe Quimby.
The application asserts the “mark” was first used in commerce in August 2005. I seem to think I might have seen that word “The” on t-shirts before 2005. But I could be wrong. And anyway, with trademarks it's distinctiveness that's the name of the game, right? I’m sure it will be a cinch to demonstrate that when people see the word “The” on a t-shirt, they automatically think of The Ohio State University. What else could they possibly think of?
The response from the University of Michigan on twitter was an instant classic (h/t to Aaron Feigelson for this one):
But I don’t think U of M will be trying to register “OF” as a mark.
As Detroit radio personality Dick Purtan sang of OSU in my childhood, “It’s a know-nothing party school!”