Josh Gerben Quoted by USA TODAY on the University of Kentucky’s Opposition to State’s ‘Team Kentucky’ Trademark Filing

The University of Kentucky opposed the Commonwealth of Kentucky’s trademark application for ‘Team Kentucky.’

Josh Gerben discusses the opposition filed agains the “Team Kentucky” trademark.

Josh Gerben, a trademark attorney, posted to Twitter about the opposition.

The university’s federal trademark registration of “Kentucky” means it has the “presumption of national ownership” for the word as it relates to clothing, he wrote.

“Nevertheless, the University of Kentucky’s case is likely to fail given that the  Commonwealth of Kentucky’s mark is for ‘TEAM KENTUCKY’ (as opposed to just the word KENTUCKY) and there are many other KENTUCKY-formative marks in the clothing space,” he wrote.

“It is a head scratcher as to why the case even got this far,” Gerben wrote. “The parties presumably were in settlement talks before a formal legal action was filed. Grab your popcorn!”

Source: Tobin, Ben. Louisville Courier Journal. usatoday.com. “‘As silly as trademark cases get’: University of Kentucky tries to stop state’s ‘Team Kentucky’ slogan.” 17 August 2021.