The University of Kentucky thwarted an attorney seeking a sports apparel trademark referencing an aspirational 2013 preseason quote by its basketball coach.
Consumers would view “40-0" as a common reference to a perfect college basketball season, not indicative of a particular shirt-maker, the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board said in a Thursday precedential ruling. The trademark was sought by Kentucky fan David Son’s company 40-0 LLC.
The successful opposition represents another in a long line of rejections finding phrasing on a T-shirt doesn’t function as a trademark—identifier of who produced a product. That Son’s T-shirt line garnered local media ...
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