For years, the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) has shut down Ohio State University’s trademark application for the word “the” on the grounds that the trademark appeared to be used for “merely decorative manner” and as an “ornamental feature” rather than serving as a symbol distinguishing the University’s goods and identifying its source. Under the law, a trademark is “any word, letter, name, numeral, shape, color, sound, symbol, or device or any combination thereof” that is used by a party to indicate the source of its goods and to identify and distinguish those goods from those manufactured or sold by others.[1] When you see the word “the” do you immediately think, Ohio State University? Without question you do if you are a Buckeye . . . but for those of us who are not, the opposite may be true since some of us do not even think twice in referring to the Unviersity as “Ohio State University” as opposed to “THE Ohio State University.” Then how did [The] Ohio State University earn the exclusive right to the word?

Since August 2019 Ohio State has been squaring off with fashion retailer Marc Jacobs for intellectual property rights over the word “the”. In August 2021 Marc Jacobs and Ohio State reached a deal granting both parties the right to use the word “the” in their branding. Now, however, Ohio State has won the right to use the word “the” on branded products associated with and sold through athletics and collegiate channels, such as T-shirts, baseball caps, and hats. However, the school does not own the word “the” entirely, and the scope of the rights are limited. In particular, Ohio State has registered the trademark for the word “THE” in the context of clothing and apparel that are sold through “channels customary to the field of sport and collegiate athletics.” Practically speaking, the trademark will likely only be used if one tried to represent Ohio State using the word. Thus, it is an extremely narrow right to the word. Nevertheless, the University still has enforcement capabilities in these limited circumstances.

Since the mid-1990s, the word “the” has been significant to the Ohio State community. The University urged for its football players to use “the” while introducing themselves, and it finally grew into a meme when NFL broadcasts highlighted clips of college football players saying their names and alma matters. In fact, “Saturday Night Live” even parodied this OSU player intro. It is anything but uncommon for features of Ohio State football players proudly announcing their school as “THE Ohio State University” to take our screens on Monday Night Football. Not surprisingly, OSU alums emphasize that they are from “The Ohio State University,” not “Ohio State University.”

Under the argument that “the” does, indeed, serve a differentiation function since two other schools have the same “OSU” initials­­­­­––Oregon State University and Oklahoma State University––Ohio State has officially secured the rights to the word since it is meaningful to the University’s overall identity and distinguishes the school from the other OSUs.

To this day, many still refer to the University as “Ohio State University”. However, now more than ever, we ought to remember that Ohio State prefers to be called THE Ohio State University.

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[1] 15 U.S.C. §1127. see https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/15/1127.

see https://www.pinterest.com/pin/there-truly-is-a-spongebob-meme-for-everything-osu-trying-to-trademark-the–318700111132093893/ for image.