The United States Patent and Trademark Office has rejected two sports related trademark requests.
LEBRON JAMES failed in his bid to trademark ‘Taco Tuesday.’ The review determined that the phrase was a “commonplace message” . . . and can’t be protected as a trademark. Which seemed a little obvious.
Also, a chain called Taco John’s has held the trademark for ‘Taco Tuesday’ as it relates to restaurant services since 1989.
Meanwhile, THE Ohio State University was denied a trademark on ‘The.’ In their case, OSU might have been able to secure it, but their timing was bad.
For one, the fashion label Marc Jacobs had just filed an application for ‘THE‘ before Ohio State made its filing. And even if there was a chance that they could share the mark, OSU jumped the gun, and hadn’t met the prerequisite.
According to one analyst, OSU filed the trademark application as it relates to a brand of shirts and hats. To get it, they would’ve had to have used it on a label for the products, and not just [as a logo] on the front of the shirt or hat.