Ohio State Tries To Trademark The Most Common Word In The English Language

Someone in this legal department thought this was a good idea.

onAugust 14, 2019 at 11:13 AMAugust 14, 2019 at 11:05 AM

Few institutions are as insufferable as THE Ohio State University. Every time one runs across a Buckeye, they cartoonishly stress that the school isn’t Ohio State but THE Ohio State as though there’s some knockoff Ohio State University out there. There actually is a Berkeley College and you don’t see Cal running around saying THE Berkeley. And, unlike Ohio State, Berkeley is actually an institution with some credibility to lose.

Apparently, this fixation with avoiding nonexistent brand confusion has seeped into the DNA of the school itself because on August 8th, the school filed Application 88571984 with the trademark office to register the word “THE.” Just to make sure we’re all on the same page, the school wants to trademark the most common word in the English language. The goal is to sell merchandise that just has the word “THE” in all caps.

Josh Gerben of the Gerben Law Firm came across the application and prepared this short video explaining the problems with this whole endeavor, presumably after he finished laughing for 20 solid minutes.

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From Pilot and Above The Law

The Ohio State University has filed a trademark application on the word "THE."

The filing, made on August 8th, indicates #OhioState is offering a brand of "THE" clothing.

Not sure how 'The U' will feel about this one.

My analysis ????:#BuckeyeNation #MiamiHurricanes pic.twitter.com/1UvLOAOnIc

— Josh Gerben (@JoshGerben) August 13, 2019

Headshot Joe Patrice is a senior editor at Above the Law and co-host of Thinking Like A Lawyer. Feel free to email any tips, questions, or comments. Follow him on Twitter if you’re interested in law, politics, and a healthy dose of college sports news. Joe also serves as a Managing Director at RPN Executive Search.