In defense of logos

Yesterday, a jury sided with the University of Kansas in its lawsuit against Joe College for selling t-shirts that infringed upon KU's trademarks. This should have been an open and shut case. Still, there are a lot of people out there who just didn't get it and viewed the case as an example of a big, bad university out for profits. How can you own the word "Kansas?" they wondered. How can you own the color blue? Simple. You can. You can within a given context. Put Kansas on a blue t-shirt and sell it in Lawrence, Kansas, then yes, common sense tells you that's a KU t-shirt.

What about letters- can you own a letter? If so, who owns the letter A? Sesame Street? Well, if you're in Oakland, selling green hats with As on them, I'm guessing Major League Baseball will have a problem with that. If you're in Tuscon, Arizona selling navy blue hats with a red letter A on them, the University of Arizona might believe they have the right to do that. In Big 10 country, how important is the letter M to Michigan? Or the word "Wisconsin" printed in white on a red shirt? Now, put Wisconsin on a green shirt and sell it in Florida- not only will no one think it's a Wisconsin University t-shirt, no one will buy it. Why? Context.

Context matters. Now I'm no attorney, but I know that sometimes the letter of the law is what matters. Other times, it's the spirit of the law. Larry Sinks, owner of Joe College sold shirts that clearly were intended to capitalize on a local affinity for the University of Kansas. He would admit as much, so the context here is obvious. But rather than obtain an official license granting him the right to sell KU merchandise, he willfully tried to skirt the system by selling shirts KU would never approve under a licensing agreement. Sure, there's a market for tasteless, inappropriate t-shirts, but this isn't a "free speech" issue. It's commercial.

It's not free speech for me to sell a basketball jersey that says "Jordan" with the number 23 on it. I'm pretty sure Michael Jordan, Chicago Bulls and maybe even Nike would have something to say about that. Sinks knew what he was doing, and he foolishly believed he had every right to do it. It reminded me of the man who ran across the street when the light was red and the sign said "Don't Walk." The man argued, "well the sign didn't say anything about running!"

Context is important. The law is important. Certainly there are more important things than logos to defend in the world, but I believe there are two kinds of people. There are those who endeavor to understand and do the right thing, and there are those who will try to get away with things, using whatever justification they can. I believe yesterday's ruling was more than just a legal victory for KU. It was a victory for common sense.