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Columbus resident here :) I saw this as well, it only applies to sports apparel and goods: > “Ohio State is pleased to have received a trademark for THE on br

Columbus resident here :) I saw this as well, it only applies to sports apparel and goods: > “Ohio State is pleased to have received a trademark for THE on branded products associated with and sold through athletics and collegiate channels,” They don't literally have a trademark on the word. And if you follow sports the "THE Ohio State University" with an emphasis on "THE" is a thing that is associated with the university. They sell shirts with "THE" in all caps with the university colors and such. I'd say that if you find this distasteful, I think you're better served arguing against patents and trademarks in general since this seems to my very biased eyes to be reasonable based on the current system we have.

ziddoap 4y ago
>I'd say that if you find this distasteful, I think you're better served arguing against patents and trademarks in general since this seems to my very biased eyes to be reasonable based on the current system we have. What better way to argue against the absurdity of many patents and trademarks, in general, than to argue against some entity being able to trademark the most common word in the English language! It's a perfect example of how broken the entire space is.
- DiggyJohnson 4y ago
  I’m not sure you’re engaging with the previous comment. In the realm of college football appears, THE is quite reasonable associated with OSU.
  - ziddoap 4y ago
    >I’m not sure you’re engaging with the previous comment. What do you mean? I understand that some people associate "THE" with OSU. That's great, really. That does not mean they should be granted a trademark on the most common word in the English language across an entire category of clothing (or, for anything). Capitalized or not, whether you like football or not, and whether you think it's reasonably associated with OSU or not is immaterial. They were granted a trademark on the most common word in the English language, and that's dumb.
    - technothrasher 4y ago
      I’m not sure I’ve ever in my life seen a sports garment (or any garment, actually) with solely the word “the” printed on it. So to object on the ground that it is “common” seems pretty shaky. If they tried to go after any use of the word on garment, that would be an obvious overreach. But establishing a trademark on the use of it by itself, given the lack of prior use, sounds reasonable.
      - drummojg 4y ago
        One would be, Richard Bland College of The College of William & Mary. I'd point out "The College of William & Mary" except it is no longer in their (e: W&M's) branding standards, but it is the official name since it's on the royal charter. Which was granted in 1693. I wonder if that came up in the review.
        tedunangst 4y ago
        Does William and Mary sell T-shirts with only the word "the" on them?
        mirntyfirty 4y ago
        I don’t see a reason that they should be prevented from doing so.
        tedunangst 4y ago
        They're not prevented from doing anything. WM sells a "the" t-shirt, OSU sues, WM counter files an anti slapp suit, proves "the" is just a word. Profits from t-shirt sales, profits from lawsuit damages, instant fucking win win.
  - hulitu 4y ago
    > I’m not sure you’re engaging with the previous comment. In the realm of college football appears, THE is quite reasonable associated with OSU. OSU ? Never heard about it. But this happened in the same country which trademarked Windows
    - ChrisLomont 4y ago
      Windows is trademarked for certain things, like pink is trademarked for sugar replacement packets - this is not a problem. There are still plenty of places that sell things called windows without legal hassle, and plenty of things that are pink without legal hassle. Trademarks are usually restricted to tiny, tiny slices of the complete, generic meaning of the trademarked term. Exactly how many sports clothing items were being sold with only the word "THE" (all caps) on them?
  - SkyBelow 4y ago
    Despite my family being fans of college football and going to a college that has the main college football rivalry in my state, I have no memory or inclination of there being any association between THE and OSU. I'm not certain I can agree it is a reasonable association.
    - ancientworldnow 4y ago
      Went to a national champion college football school and everyone just says Ohio State. I've never heard THE used to refer to OSU in my life but maybe I'm not a big enough fan (or care about big 10 football over the sec).
  - dfxm12 4y ago
    Is just reasonable association enough? Doesn't have to be unique, or distinguishable in some way? After all, if you watch nationally televised Football games, tons of players say they're from "the" X university. Thomas Davis says "The" University of Georgia here, for example: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pYoW8J9wRrI&t=20s https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pYoW8J9wRrI&t=20s (20 sec in). Davis would later go on to play for The Washington Football Team.
- Spivak 4y ago
  This misunderstands trademarks. Trademarks don’t mean you own the word or words being trademarked, they mean that you successfully registered the word as representing your business/firm/trade in the categories your business operates in. There’s no need for them to be unique words, Apple, Ghost, Monster, Bang (sorry my mind is stuck on energy drinks) are all trademarked. It’s the legal equivalent of having the name “the” on NPM.
  - ziddoap 4y ago
    So, if I am misunderstanding, can you explain to me what happens if I have some sportswear that I sell which has the word "the" on it, written in capital letters? For example, sportswear that says "THE SPORTSBALL TEAM".
    - thefoyer 4y ago
      Literally nothing
    - joshuamorton 4y ago
      Nothing at all. It would be an issue if the shirt was only THE in all caps, and nothing else. And even then it might not be an issue if it were in pink and orange (although it still might). The analogy with npm works: thesportsballteam is a distinct package.
      - ziddoap 4y ago
        The possibility that I can't put "THE", literally the most common word, on a hat or other sportswear sort of makes my point. Absolutely absurd trademark.
        et2o 4y ago
        That's not true at all, though. Y9u can absolutely do that as long as it's not in red and grey and sold in places customary to collegiate athletics.
- tablespoon 4y ago
  > What better way to argue against the absurdity of many patents and trademarks, in general, than to argue against some entity being able to trademark the most common word in the English language! Except that argument seems to rest on a misunderstanding. They didn't trademark the word, they trademarked the word in a specific context (https://www.gerbenlaw.com/trademarks/universities/the-ohio-state-university/#88571984 https://www.gerbenlaw.com/trademarks/universities/the-ohio-s...): > IC 025. US 022 039. G & S Clothing, namely, t-shirts, baseball caps and hats; all of the foregoing being promoted, distributed, and sold through channels customary to the field of sports and collegiate athletics. FIRST USE: 20050800. FIRST USE IN COMMERCE: 20050800. Frankly, the way they seem to use it is really odd (https://www.diehardsport.com/college-football/ohio-state-big-10/ohio-state-is-selling-hats-with-just-the-on-them/ https://www.diehardsport.com/college-football/ohio-state-big...). In English, "the" doesn't even really make sense as a standalone word, so I really doubt this trademark conflicts with anything.
  - ziddoap 4y ago
    Funny enough, I actually know that it's in the context of clothing! Even better, I've spent a non-trivial amount of time dealing with trademark lawyers and getting a better grasp of trademark and patent law in the past several years -- so despite what some people seem to think, I'm not a complete idiot who is just misunderstanding everything. And I still think this is absurd.
    - tablespoon 4y ago
      > Funny enough, I actually know that it's in the context of clothing! Even better, I've spent a non-trivial amount of time dealing with trademark lawyers and getting a better grasp of trademark and patent law in the past several years -- so despite what some people seem to think, I'm not a complete idiot who is just misunderstanding everything. You made none of that clear in your comment. Your comment read like you think no common words should not be trademarkable, so it would be interesting to know where you think the boundary should be and why it should be there. > And I still think this is absurd. We'll, to me, it doesn't seem any more absurd than Apple being able to trademark the word "Apple." The word identifies them in certain narrow contexts, so it makes sense that they can gain the right to prevent others from impersonating them in those narrow contexts, so long as any prior use is respected.
colechristensen 4y ago
Considering they were in a fight with fashion brand Marc Jacobs, it really sounds like your emphasis on the association with the school name isn't as close as you claim. They really do seem to have a trademark on the word "the" when associated with clothing, which is profoundly stupid. It is not a case of trademarking their school name with an article in front, but just the article itself. I don't feel like looking for the actual trademark or court documents.
- smegsicle 4y ago
  says here that tosu has been using it since 2005, and only pursued trademark after marc jacobs filed for one in 2019
pkulak 4y ago
As someone from the state of Oregon (home to THE Oregon State University), I find this very distasteful indeed.
tshaddox 4y ago
This is, of course, how all trademarks work. A trademark violation only occurs if a consumer is reasonably likely to be confused about the origin of a product.
- colechristensen 4y ago
  Ideally, but there is a tendency for overreach by the courts and much broader harassment by lawyers "protecting" trademarks.
  - tshaddox 4y ago
    That may be, but just make the actual argument against trademarks or for a massive overhaul of the trademark system. Don't make sensational arguments about how absurd it is "for a university to own one of the most common words in the English language" when that's not true and when your actual point is "there are some fundamental problems with our trademark system."
Adverblessly 4y ago
> I'd say that if you find this distasteful, I think you're better served arguing against patents and trademarks in general since this seems to my very biased eyes to be reasonable based on the current system we have. If anything I find trademarks to be the least unreasonable part of the whole IP nonsense. As an example, it seems absurd to me that Disney gets to decide in which works Spiderman can or can't appear (or is that Sony? Why??) when that character is part of our shared culture. At the same time, if anyone can put Spiderman in their stuff, you should at least be able to tell which version of Spiderman you are seeing and if it is an "official" production or an alternate take, and it seems like some form of Trademark could help here.

ziddoap 4y ago

>I'd say that if you find this distasteful, I think you're better served arguing against patents and trademarks in general since this seems to my very biased eyes to be reasonable based on the current system we have. What better way to argue against the absurdity of many patents and trademarks, in general, than to argue against some entity being able to trademark the most common word in the English language! It's a perfect example of how broken the entire space is.

DiggyJohnson 4y ago
I’m not sure you’re engaging with the previous comment. In the realm of college football appears, THE is quite reasonable associated with OSU.
- ziddoap 4y ago
  >I’m not sure you’re engaging with the previous comment. What do you mean? I understand that some people associate "THE" with OSU. That's great, really. That does not mean they should be granted a trademark on the most common word in the English language across an entire category of clothing (or, for anything). Capitalized or not, whether you like football or not, and whether you think it's reasonably associated with OSU or not is immaterial. They were granted a trademark on the most common word in the English language, and that's dumb.
  - technothrasher 4y ago
    I’m not sure I’ve ever in my life seen a sports garment (or any garment, actually) with solely the word “the” printed on it. So to object on the ground that it is “common” seems pretty shaky. If they tried to go after any use of the word on garment, that would be an obvious overreach. But establishing a trademark on the use of it by itself, given the lack of prior use, sounds reasonable.
    - drummojg 4y ago
      One would be, Richard Bland College of The College of William & Mary. I'd point out "The College of William & Mary" except it is no longer in their (e: W&M's) branding standards, but it is the official name since it's on the royal charter. Which was granted in 1693. I wonder if that came up in the review.
      - tedunangst 4y ago
        Does William and Mary sell T-shirts with only the word "the" on them?
        mirntyfirty 4y ago
        I don’t see a reason that they should be prevented from doing so.
        tedunangst 4y ago
        They're not prevented from doing anything. WM sells a "the" t-shirt, OSU sues, WM counter files an anti slapp suit, proves "the" is just a word. Profits from t-shirt sales, profits from lawsuit damages, instant fucking win win.
- hulitu 4y ago
  > I’m not sure you’re engaging with the previous comment. In the realm of college football appears, THE is quite reasonable associated with OSU. OSU ? Never heard about it. But this happened in the same country which trademarked Windows
  - ChrisLomont 4y ago
    Windows is trademarked for certain things, like pink is trademarked for sugar replacement packets - this is not a problem. There are still plenty of places that sell things called windows without legal hassle, and plenty of things that are pink without legal hassle. Trademarks are usually restricted to tiny, tiny slices of the complete, generic meaning of the trademarked term. Exactly how many sports clothing items were being sold with only the word "THE" (all caps) on them?
- SkyBelow 4y ago
  Despite my family being fans of college football and going to a college that has the main college football rivalry in my state, I have no memory or inclination of there being any association between THE and OSU. I'm not certain I can agree it is a reasonable association.
  - ancientworldnow 4y ago
    Went to a national champion college football school and everyone just says Ohio State. I've never heard THE used to refer to OSU in my life but maybe I'm not a big enough fan (or care about big 10 football over the sec).
- dfxm12 4y ago
  Is just reasonable association enough? Doesn't have to be unique, or distinguishable in some way? After all, if you watch nationally televised Football games, tons of players say they're from "the" X university. Thomas Davis says "The" University of Georgia here, for example: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pYoW8J9wRrI&t=20s https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pYoW8J9wRrI&t=20s (20 sec in). Davis would later go on to play for The Washington Football Team.
Spivak 4y ago
This misunderstands trademarks. Trademarks don’t mean you own the word or words being trademarked, they mean that you successfully registered the word as representing your business/firm/trade in the categories your business operates in. There’s no need for them to be unique words, Apple, Ghost, Monster, Bang (sorry my mind is stuck on energy drinks) are all trademarked. It’s the legal equivalent of having the name “the” on NPM.
- ziddoap 4y ago
  So, if I am misunderstanding, can you explain to me what happens if I have some sportswear that I sell which has the word "the" on it, written in capital letters? For example, sportswear that says "THE SPORTSBALL TEAM".
  - thefoyer 4y ago
    Literally nothing
  - joshuamorton 4y ago
    Nothing at all. It would be an issue if the shirt was only THE in all caps, and nothing else. And even then it might not be an issue if it were in pink and orange (although it still might). The analogy with npm works: thesportsballteam is a distinct package.
    - ziddoap 4y ago
      The possibility that I can't put "THE", literally the most common word, on a hat or other sportswear sort of makes my point. Absolutely absurd trademark.
      - et2o 4y ago
        That's not true at all, though. Y9u can absolutely do that as long as it's not in red and grey and sold in places customary to collegiate athletics.
tablespoon 4y ago
> What better way to argue against the absurdity of many patents and trademarks, in general, than to argue against some entity being able to trademark the most common word in the English language! Except that argument seems to rest on a misunderstanding. They didn't trademark the word, they trademarked the word in a specific context (https://www.gerbenlaw.com/trademarks/universities/the-ohio-state-university/#88571984 https://www.gerbenlaw.com/trademarks/universities/the-ohio-s...): > IC 025. US 022 039. G & S Clothing, namely, t-shirts, baseball caps and hats; all of the foregoing being promoted, distributed, and sold through channels customary to the field of sports and collegiate athletics. FIRST USE: 20050800. FIRST USE IN COMMERCE: 20050800. Frankly, the way they seem to use it is really odd (https://www.diehardsport.com/college-football/ohio-state-big-10/ohio-state-is-selling-hats-with-just-the-on-them/ https://www.diehardsport.com/college-football/ohio-state-big...). In English, "the" doesn't even really make sense as a standalone word, so I really doubt this trademark conflicts with anything.
- ziddoap 4y ago
  Funny enough, I actually know that it's in the context of clothing! Even better, I've spent a non-trivial amount of time dealing with trademark lawyers and getting a better grasp of trademark and patent law in the past several years -- so despite what some people seem to think, I'm not a complete idiot who is just misunderstanding everything. And I still think this is absurd.
  - tablespoon 4y ago
    > Funny enough, I actually know that it's in the context of clothing! Even better, I've spent a non-trivial amount of time dealing with trademark lawyers and getting a better grasp of trademark and patent law in the past several years -- so despite what some people seem to think, I'm not a complete idiot who is just misunderstanding everything. You made none of that clear in your comment. Your comment read like you think no common words should not be trademarkable, so it would be interesting to know where you think the boundary should be and why it should be there. > And I still think this is absurd. We'll, to me, it doesn't seem any more absurd than Apple being able to trademark the word "Apple." The word identifies them in certain narrow contexts, so it makes sense that they can gain the right to prevent others from impersonating them in those narrow contexts, so long as any prior use is respected.

colechristensen 4y ago

Considering they were in a fight with fashion brand Marc Jacobs, it really sounds like your emphasis on the association with the school name isn't as close as you claim. They really do seem to have a trademark on the word "the" when associated with clothing, which is profoundly stupid. It is not a case of trademarking their school name with an article in front, but just the article itself. I don't feel like looking for the actual trademark or court documents.

smegsicle 4y ago
says here that tosu has been using it since 2005, and only pursued trademark after marc jacobs filed for one in 2019

pkulak 4y ago

As someone from the state of Oregon (home to THE Oregon State University), I find this very distasteful indeed.

tshaddox 4y ago

This is, of course, how all trademarks work. A trademark violation only occurs if a consumer is reasonably likely to be confused about the origin of a product.

colechristensen 4y ago
Ideally, but there is a tendency for overreach by the courts and much broader harassment by lawyers "protecting" trademarks.
- tshaddox 4y ago
  That may be, but just make the actual argument against trademarks or for a massive overhaul of the trademark system. Don't make sensational arguments about how absurd it is "for a university to own one of the most common words in the English language" when that's not true and when your actual point is "there are some fundamental problems with our trademark system."

Adverblessly 4y ago

> I'd say that if you find this distasteful, I think you're better served arguing against patents and trademarks in general since this seems to my very biased eyes to be reasonable based on the current system we have. If anything I find trademarks to be the least unreasonable part of the whole IP nonsense. As an example, it seems absurd to me that Disney gets to decide in which works Spiderman can or can't appear (or is that Sony? Why??) when that character is part of our shared culture. At the same time, if anyone can put Spiderman in their stuff, you should at least be able to tell which version of Spiderman you are seeing and if it is an "official" production or an alternate take, and it seems like some form of Trademark could help here.