KU, T-shirt entrepreneur are in trademark dispute

Tag : Orange T-Shirt
The University of Kansas' athletic department is taking aLawrence clothing store to federal court this week, seeking anorder banning the store from selling unlicensed Jayhawk-relatedmerchandise.
While Kansas has gained newfound popularity this year with itssuccess in football and a national championship in men'sbasketball, department officials say their lawsuit is aboutprotecting their right to manage, license and benefit from theuniversity's image and its teams.
"It's not more important now than it was a year ago or two yearsago, but the success that we've enjoyed this year certainlyhighlighted the importance of this issue," said Jim Marchiony,associate athletics director. "From our perspective, what's atstake is the use of our marks and the goodwill and good name of theUniversity of Kansas."
Larry Sinks, who sells unlicensed shirts online and through hisJoe-College.com store, disagrees. He sees the university's lawsuitas an attack on his First Amendment rights, noting that he hasavoided using any marks that are protected by the university, suchas the Jayhawk mascot or the words "The University of Kansas."
"We're just prepared to fight the fight," he said. "We feel it'sour freedom of speech to say what we say on our shirts...."
"I'm a taxpayer in this state, and I have been for many years, andI feel I have the right to use my state name on a shirt anytime Iwant."
The university argues that Sinks' shirts are close enough to theuniversity's own offerings to confuse customers into thinking he'sselling officially licensed apparel.
For example, school officials pointed to T-shirts he printed inconnection with Kansas' trip to the Orange Bowl that are blue,similar to Kansas' official color, say "Hawk Football" on the frontand "Orange You Glad We're Going Bowling in Miami," with the words"Orange" and "Bowl" printed in orange.
Another blue shirt says "Missouri, it's Your Turn to Pick Cotton(nice bowl game)," a reference to the University of Missouriplaying in the Cotton Bowl this year.
Another of the shirts doesn't mention Kansas football coach MarkMangino by name, but refers to his ample girth with the words "OurCoach Beat Anorexia."
Kansas Athletics says it isn't trying to stop Links from making andselling shirts that it finds distasteful, just the ones infringingon its legally protected trademarks.
"This is about our marks and protecting the good name of theUniversity of Kansas," Marchiony said. "We deal with this issue allof the time, with other entities who play by the rules."
Sinks said that he tried to secure licenses for selling officialKansas merchandise but was rejected, so he decided to make his ownshirts that didn't require licenses.
He also includes signs in his store and on his Web site making itclear he is not affiliated with the university.
Jurors will now have to decide whether his shirts and otherproducts are illegal. If not, he said he plans to expand intofranchises and sell more shirts. If the jury sides against him,however, he's out of business.
"I'm kind of fighting for my life," he said.