Rutgers Forces LA High School To Change Logos Due To Its 'R' Trademark

from the r-you-kidding-me? dept

Over the years, we've seen plenty of aggression from universities when it comes to trademark enforcement. The impetus for much of this was rulings nearly a decade ago that essentially gave universities far broader and more exclusive rights to their school logos. The fallout of those rulings became schools going after all kinds of uses and near-uses of those logos, including a strange war on pastries, and colleges going after high schools for using similar iconography.

The latter continues to the present. The latest version of this is Rutgers, in New Jersey, forcing a Louisiana high school to change its logo because it was essentially the same as Rutgers' famed "R" logo.

New Jersey's flagship university has asked a high school in Louisiana to change its logo because it's identical to the block "R'' that Rutgers has trademarked.

Lincoln Parish Schools official Ricky Durrett tells the Courier News of Bridgewater the company that manages Rutgers' brand requested Ruston High School stop using it.

Rutgers says the high school has 10 years to replace the logo on gear, social media platforms and on the school's website.

The logos, to be fair, are somewhat similar, although it seems that's more a function of them being a single letter than anything else. (Rutgers' is on the bottom.)

On the one hand, look, Rutgers' demand timelines aren't wholly oppressive. Ten years is a nice stretch of time within which Lincoln Parish can work. On the other hand, allowing for such a timeline only seems to solidify the impression that none of this is really necessary to begin with. Is Rutgers really suggesting that someone is going to be confused between the NJ school and LA high school? Is there some odd concern that parents of high school students will think they're supporting Rutgers by buying the high school's apparel? Is anyone, anyone at all, really going to be confused about any of this?

The answer sure feels like "no." Rutgers likely would state that it must take these actions or risk losing its trademark. Except that's only the case if there is the actual potential for confusion and if a court bought that it was operating in the same marketplace as a high school many states away. Both seem unlikely to me.

But, of course, the high school is changing its logo rather than fighting against the much larger Rutgers.

Filed Under: college, high schools, r, ruston high school, trademark
Companies: rutgers

Colleges Cracking Down On High Schools Using Their Logos

from the logo-wars dept

We recently had a story of a high school caught with a logo copied from the Dodge Ram logo. Apparently, this idea of high schools copying their logos is hardly an isolated instance. For decades, it's been commonplace for high schools to just copy the logos of various colleges (or, at least use them for very close "inspiration"), but lately colleges have started cracking down on this practice, threatening high schools, or even demanding payment. This is really the latest result of a trend we've noted in the past, where universities and colleges have taken trademarks to a new level after some court rulings suggested exclusive rights in college logos existed. Of course, it seems a bit silly. It's not as if anyone's going to buy a high school t-shirt instead of the college shirt, but it seems like these universities and colleges want to be aggressive with their trademark efforts. At least some appear to have very reasonable licensing programs. Apparently KSU lets anyone use their logo for $1 every two years -- but does put some restrictions on it, such as not letting you sell t-shirts with the inspired logo unless they use a KSU-connected vendor, who gives a percentage to the university.

Filed Under: high schools, logos, trademark, universities

Would A Moron In A Hurry Be Confused By The Difference Between A High School And A Pickup Truck?

from the depends-on-the-moron dept

Copycense points us to a story from Florida involving a high school that quite clearly copied the logo of the Dodge Ram for the school mascot: After someone alerted Chrysler, the lawyers got involved, and the school is now in the process of changing its logo and removing it from everything (including the gym floor). My first though was wondering whether or not this was "use in commerce," which is required for trademark infringement. I think a lawyer could make an argument that a school's usage isn't use in commerce -- but perhaps that's undermined by the logo appearing on school clothing (though, it's not clear that the clothes are for sale, or just what the sports teams get). However, I do wonder if the Dodge logo trademark covers use on gymnasium floors and clothing...

But, honestly, the bigger issue is why the hell would Chrysler be upset about this? At worst it's getting a ton of free advertising from this school, with many students having a feeling of affinity for the logo, which could potentially increase their interest in buying a Dodge in the future. Car companies spend lots of money on sponsorship to get their logos seen by lots of people. And here's a school that's done that entirely for free... and Chrysler sends in the lawyers?

Filed Under: dodge ram, high schools, logo, ram, trademark
Companies: chrysler