Ohio State, Oklahoma State Reportedly Settle Trademark Dispute

The Ohio State-Oklahoma State trademark dispute has reached a settlement, Carrie Ghose of Columbus Business First reported on Wednesday.

Oklahoma State first objected earlier this year to Ohio State’s attempt to trademark “OSU” and requested to discard a prior agreement regarding the usage of the acronym, but as it turns out, they won’t be going to federal court and have come to a surprisingly simple solution.

Here’s details from Ghose’s report:

Not only have they dropped the dispute, they’ve dropped the geographic divisions – thanks to the internet, changes in conference boundaries and increased non-conference games.

“Prior agreements as to the concurrent use of the respective (OSU trademarks) within specific geographic boundaries has been rendered impractical,” the agreement says.

The new agreement on “OSU” covers the entire United States and uses encompassing education, entertainment, apparel and merchandise.

So, put simply: Oklahoma State agrees not to use “OSU” in connection with scarlet and gray, Buckeyes, Brutus or other Ohio State-related brand signifiers. In turn, Ohio State agrees not to use the “OSU” acronym on anything orange and black or associated with Pistol Pete or Cowboys.

That was easy, huh?

Oh, and one final stipulation: The schools agreed not to disparage each other as the “wannabe” or “copycat” OSU.

No promises on that one.