Ohio State Successfully Registers the Word THE with the Trademark Office
Published: July 14, 2022
Ohio State University recently made Intellectual Property headlines by managing to procure a trademark registration for the word THE. The registration procured by Ohio State covers t-shirts, caps, and hats. Although the registration covers limited goods and services, that hasn’t stopped people from being outraged by the idea that a person or entity can obtain exclusive rights to use of the most commonly used word in the English language. But is it really that big of a deal? In my humble opinion, it is not.