I agree with you, but the key is the word "unauthorized" in the
explanation below.
It is easy to authorize the use of the logo, especially to state high
schools that send students to the state university.
-Zeb
On Sep 22, 2010, at 2:08 PM, Oliver Barry wrote:
God forbid I should try to contradict an attorney and a minister at
the same time, but…
This isn’t the first time the U of F has gone after a high school
about this.
The other, I recall, was a school in Louisiana. They had a Gator
head on their gym floor.
Here’s what I think the University is trying to avoid.
Dilution
Main article: Trademark dilution
A trademark is diluted when the use of similar or identical
trademarks in other non-competing markets means that the trademark
in and of itself will lose its capacity to signify a single source.
In other words, unlike ordinary trademark law, dilution protection
extends to trademark uses that do not confuse consumers regarding
who has made a product. Instead, dilution protection law aims to
protect sufficiently strong trademarks from losing their singular
association in the public mind with a particular product, perhaps
imagined if the trademark were to be encountered independently of
any product (e.g., just the word Pepsi spoken, or on a billboard).
Under trademark law, dilution occurs either when unauthorized use
of a mark "blurs" the "distinctive nature of the mark" or
"tarnishes it." Likelihood of confusion is not required. 15 U.S.C
§§ 1127, 1125(c).
This is from Wikipedia and is admittedly not the best explanation,
but I think this expresses what the University is trying to do.
The Gator head on the floor in the day school is a good example of
this dilution. It is our Gator head with green around it. That…
is dilution.
Oliver Barry CRS,GRI
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