Ohio State University Challenges Trademark App For Vodka Brand ‘VOHIO”
from the oh-hi-no dept
We’ve had a couple of posts about Ohio State University’s theories on trademark law over the past couple of years, with all of them centering on the school’s application, ultimately somehow granted by the USPTO, to trademark the word “the.” The whole thing was so absurd that even noted college football cheerleader Kirk Herbstreit thought the whole thing was dumb, but here we are. The point of this preamble is that the school doesn’t exactly have a stellar track record when it comes to being sane on matters of trademark law.
All of that brings us to the present, in which Ohio State is opposing the trademark for a vodka brand going by the brand name “VOHIO.”
Ohio State University is challenging a Gahanna distillery’s bid to trademark a line of Buckeyes-themed vodka products under the name “VOHIO” that the university says would dilute the Ohio State brand and confuse the public.
Ohio State said in a filing with the patent office that Noble Cut’s target market for the sale of the vodka is students, alumni, fans and supporters of the Buckeyes, in essence the same base for sales of Ohio State’s licensed goods. The vodka bottles are the “type of merchandise that consumers would reasonably suspect to be affiliated with Ohio State,” the university said.
I truly do not understand why the source article is characterizing it this way. As someone who follows college sports, I went and looked at the branding for the vodka and it sure didn’t cause me to think of OSU in any way shape or form. Here is the bottle’s branding, so you can see for yourself.
And here’s an example of an OSU football uniform.
I mean, they’re not entirely dissimilar, but the colors look plenty different to me. The striping pattern doesn’t call to mind OSU’s branding from what I can tell. And, frankly, the school has also stated this has more to do with chants at football games than trade dress anyway.
On social media, Noble Cut displays the “VOHIO” as “VoHio” in an apparent attempt to mimic the cadence of Ohio State fan chants, such as “OH-IO,” “O-HI-O” and “O-H-I-O,” the university said, “all in a manner that suggests that the vodka sold under the ‘VOHIO’ mark is an official vodka of Ohio State and/or Ohio State tailgating activities, which is patently false.”
Ohio State also said use of the letter “V” in “VOHIO” does not do enough to distinguish itself from Ohio State’s trademarks using the word “OHIO.”
And now we’re in the realm of the absurd. OSU does not make alcohol. The idea it has broad trademark rights to the name of a state in the union is obviously silly. For all of this to somehow get warped into the opposition of a trademark that references more the state itself than the school, with only some barely discernable possible references to the school doesn’t somehow make it the case that the public is actually going to be confused as to an association in all of this seems like pure pretzel logic.
But OSU is big and has a warchest to match, which is why this may end up going to a settlement.
The case is currently on hold. The most recent filing with the trademark office last week indicates that both sides are in discussions about a possible settlement.
I wouldn’t be shocked at all if the VOHIO folks caved on this under threat of litigation. And that’s too bad, in my view, because I don’t think there’s anything remotely like a valid trademark claim here.
Filed Under: ohio, trademark, vodka, vohio
Companies: ohio state university
Comments on “Ohio State University Challenges Trademark App For Vodka Brand ‘VOHIO””
At this point it’s just fucking embarrassing that OSU is in any way affiliated with the State of Ohio, which they do not fucking own.
We need to purge these corporate assholes from our public institutions, especially those of higher education.
Hell, purge the damn sports cult economy from higher education.
Do they have a point?
Normally, I would agree.
Doing a couple of quick searches, I found alleged social media posts that promote the brand right next to officially licensed OSU products.
The font that they use including the letter ‘O’ is very similar to the ‘Block O’ which is a well known trademark of the university. This may actually be the best argument, but it doesn’t seem to be mentioned in the article at all.
I live in Ohio, and I’ve got no love for OSU, but sort of see their point here.
Re:
Do you think Disney endorses neo-Nazis just because Ex-Twitter showed adverts for Disney+ next to neo-Nazi content? And if that’s not enough to prove endorsement, then it’s most certainly not enough for a case of trademark infringement. Learn the law or don’t comment.
Re: Re:
That’s a false equivalency.
You describe two things that happen to show up next to each other.
The advert that I saw for VOHIO vodka was their product (which uses a font extremely similar to the OSU trademark) with officially licensed OSU merch (with the actual Block O trademark) in the foreground of the same picture. So VOHIO used the OSU trademark in their own post.
Now, that’s also a separate issue, but it also shows their intent to make it at least tangentially associated.
My point was that the stronger argument is that the colors and font do give some legitimacy to the OSU claim. Especially in regard to the similarity to the Block O.
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As did you, so when you accused AC of false equivalence, that was hypocrisy on your part.
Re:
My condolances for your inability to distinguish between a letter and a word. Life must be difficult for you.
You have asserted claims not made by OSU, in an effort to justify OSU’s actions. Please limit yourself to infringement detailed in the complaint. Infringement caused by comparisons not detailed in the complaint are not at issue, and are simply a moving goalpost.
The Block O trade dress, while iconic, does not give OSU the onwer of the trademark to control any use of the letter O in a block font.
The block O tradedress is traditionally a single solid Red block letter O on a white background. VoHio includes two block ‘O’s, one that is solid black, one that is a red outline, both as part of one larger word.
Moreover, the trade dress of the Block O is specifically not a traditional “O”. The Block O uses angled corners and straight lines. The ViHio Os are traditionally rounded bold characters.
Your claim would seem to amount to “OSU owns any use of bolded capital O”.
Re: Re:
Fair points.
You could have not started with an insult to my intelligence, but still fair points.
Looking at other instances of the VOHIO label, you are correct, the corners are more rounded. The picture included here on techdirt seems to be more blocky, which I misinterpreted. Possibly because of the lower image quality.
That said, the company does seem to want to associate themselves with the University, which is one of the points made in the complaint.
Finally, it’s always better to end with an insult rather than start with one, you despotic keyboard jockey.
If only they had called it THE Vohio vodka then there might have been a reason to get upset.
But hey its all about money grubbing & if these students actually get to earn money that used to just flow to the school, the school needs a new revenue stream & well hey IP trolling pays well until you piss off the wrong people.
Except the state of Ohio doesn’t have a trademark on that name, and it’s the state rather than any university I first thought of when reading the name of the vodka.
The Ohio State University feels it owns a monopoly on student binge drinking, since that is an essential part the college experience.
“VOHIO” reminds me more of “Sohio”, which BP America might still use in limited cases.
And, Athens-based Ohio University is older than OSU.
Who looks at a bottle of vodka without thinking of college? Just a matter of where you attended.
I’m just surprised it’s OH-I-O rather than I-DA-HO