Restaurant Responds To OSU’s Opposition To “Buckeye Tears” Trademark: ‘See Those Tears? Like That!’

from the proving-the-point dept

Several weeks back, we wrote about a very silly trademark opposition filed by Ohio State University against a restaurant in Ann Arbor, Michigan, called The Brown Jug. At issue was the restaurants offering of an alcoholic drink called “Buckeye Tears.” See, the University of Michigan and OSU are big time rivals in the realm of college athletics and Ohioans in general, and OSU in particular, are referred to as the Buckeyes.

Well, OSU claimed that allowing this trademark to exist would both cause the public to associate the college with alcohol (can you even imagine the horror?), as well as confuse the public into thinking that OSU somehow was involved in or endorsed the drink. Both claims are absurd, of course. The only association that the public at The Brown Jug would make with Buckeye Tears is the rivalry between the colleges and the reputation for OSU and its fans to be a bunch of whiny crybabies when things don’t go there way.

Which is a point made explicitly clear in the restaurant’s response to OSU’s opposition.

OSU’s overreaction to a bit of good-natured ribbing just adds more Buckeye tears to the keg, they claim in papers filed with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office on Oct. 6. It’s their lawyer’s response to Ohio State’s opposition of a trademark application by the Brown Jug, a bar and restaurant near the University of Michigan’s campus in Ann Arbor.

“The Buckeye Tears mark … plays into a perception shared by Michigan fans — particularly in the wake of their football team’s four consecutive victories over Ohio State — that Ohio State and its supporters may on occasion act like sore losers,” attorneys from the law firm Fenwick & West wrote on the Brown Jug’s behalf.

“Ohio State’s very filing of the opposition validates that perception,” they wrote.

I mean…yeah? Combined with the facts that the term “Buckeye” is not solely associated with OSU and that there are several other uses of the term in trademarked products and services throughout Ohio, the response is a fairly thorough dunking on OSU’s whiny opposition. Which, of course, plays right into the hands of how this drink’s name came to be in the first place.

The Brown Jug’s lawyers, however, said the word Buckeye is already used for more than 5,700 licensed businesses in Ohio and is a brand name on beer, wine and liquor that OSU has “apparently not seen fit to police.”

“Ohio State called its team of lawyers only when a Michigan small business sought to make a good-natured joke,” he said.

That pain water must be delicious.

Filed Under: buckeye tears, buckeyes, trademark

Companies: ohio state university, the brown jug