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UT logo trademark dispute
I was in Texas over the weekend and read about this pretty interesting trademark dispute. It seems the University of Texas is suing a businessman and alum of rival college Texas A&M for selling t-shirts with a manipulated version of Texas' trademarked longhorn logo and the caption "Saw em Off". You can read more about it and see a picture of a t-shirt at the links below...
http://www.theeagle.com/stories/012307/am_20070123007.php
http://www.zazzle.com/product/235969674197844075
This situation is a lot like the Barbie case and the manipulated Coca-Cola mark that said "Cocaine" that we discussed in class. UT's argument is dilution of their trademark, but it would seem the businessman has the upper-hand because he can argue along the same lines as MCA Records in the Barbie case that the shirts are not "purely commercial" because of the 1st amendment/parody implications and that they should fall under the noncommercial use exemption of the FTDA.
Posted by at February 3, 2007 3:34 PM
in Current Events
