Ohio State University Trademarked The Word “The”
This is actually happening, According to the Columbus Dispatch, “Ohio State has officially registered a trademark for the most common word in the English language: “THE.”
They really did it.
The Ohio State University has successfully registered a trademark for "THE."
— Josh Gerben (@JoshGerben) June 22, 2022
The registration was just issued on June 21st by the USPTO.
The application was filed back in August 2019. So why did it take 3 years to get approved?
A thread🧵 pic.twitter.com/Wfa5EFp4DS
“Ohio State is pleased to have received a trademark for THE on branded products associated with and sold through athletics and collegiate channels,” Ben Johnson, OSU senior director of media and public relations, said in a statement.
The trademark doesn’t allow them to sue every time someone says the word. It allows them to print “The” on t shirts, baseball caps, and hats, and no one else can. Not sure why anyone would want a t-shirt with a singular definite article, as it should then be followed by a noun. If they want to capture the Hispanic market, OSU will need to also trademark “el, la, los and las”. The?
As an OSU alum, I will not be participating, I will, however continue to wear my old Ted Ginn jersey on Saturdays this fall, telling people that it’s a C.J. Stroud jersey.
You can read the full story here, if you want.
