I’m watching the Texas high school football championship (one of em anyway) and it’s the Longhorns vs. the Eagles. The Longhorns use UT’s logo - although it’s red - and the Eagles’ helmets match the Philadelphia Eagles. This seems to be pretty darn common; my own high school mascot was the Mustangs, and we used SMU’s logo.
Do high schools owe college and sports teams any money for this practice? I can’t imagine they wouldn’t; even when I was a student at UT, student groups would get in trouble for using the “official” Longhorn silhouette logo.
Hey, is that the Cedar Hill Longhorns? I went to school there, though I woudn’t be suprised if there were all sorts of high schools using that as a mascot in Texas.
Sometimes it works to both school’s advantage. My high school was the Redlands High School Terriers. The mascot is a bull terrier.The University of Redlands mascot is the Bulldogs. We would get their old water polo goals for our practice goals, with the logo on the canvas, but no name. Made for good advertising for both schools.
I’m not RealityChuck, but here is the text of the Lanham Act, which governs trademarks in the United States. You may peruse it at your leisure.
Generally speaking, if trademark owners do not take steps to protect their trademark, the trademark can be considered “abandoned” or diluted to the point where it has lost its legal protection. Even if the unauthorized user is a public school district or some other governmental entity, they still have to get permission.
Also generally speaking, most trademark holders will at least consider licensing their trademark for certain uses. As an example, my university will allow on-campus groups to use the school’s logo on advertising and recruitment materials without charge. Each group has to ask permission, however, and this license does not apply to merchandise that is intended for sale. A college may have no problems allowing a high school to use its logo, provided that permission has been requested and granted and that the high school follows the licensing agreement.
Crowley County High School in Ordway, Colorado uses as their mascot the Charger. But it doesn’t copy the San Diago mascot. On their helmets and throughout the school it uses the Denver Bronco symbol.
On top of the school, they even have a 15 foot tall copy of the raring white stallion on top of the Bronco’s stadium.
FWIW, the San Diego Chargers once used a representation of a horse in their logo, too. The retro fad has brought back some stickers, hats, etc. with the old equine logo. Seems like an obvious connection, right? But the team’s name actually came from the fact that the founding owner was a pioneer in the credit card field. Don’t have a cite, but I remember reading that on the Chargers website a few years back.
My high school - Central HS in Grand Jct., CO (warriors) - used to use the same indian logo as the Cleveland Indians baseball team. Never heard “boo” from them.
Actually, you can be in plenty of trouble, depending upon how you define trouble. Those uniforms and helmets you purchased probably cost you a bundle of money, not to mention all the painting costs for the logo in the gymnasium, on the fieldhouse, the stadium, your billboard, etc. When that “cease and desist” letter arrives, you are looking at having to either spend money on attorneys to defend a lawsuit you will lose, or repurchase, paint, etc. all that stuff. It’s bad policy for school districts to appropriate logos without permission, especially since many of the teams, professional or college, will be willing to license the logo to a school for nominal sums of money.
An example I am personally aware of involves the Anthony Wayne Local School District in Whitehouse, Ohio. Nicknamed the “Generals” (go figure!), they used a “G” on their football helmets that was essentially the Green Bay Packers “G” in blue on white. They have since had to switch to the word “Generals” on the helmets; the use of the logo, even with different colors, was asserted to be a trademark violation. Fortunately, the school’s main athletic logo is a very nice painting of General “Mad” Anthony Wayne, so only the helmets and the football field needed a redo.
