Uh-oh! Sports network sues in dispute with Buckeyes over letter ‘O’

A New York-based sports network has turned to the federal courts in its trademark dispute with Ohio State University over use of the letter“O.”

Overtime Sports Inc., an online network focusing on high school basketball and football, has a capital O with sloping corners as its logo. Its application to trademark the logo is pending with the United States Patent and Trademark Office.

Ohio State asked the company in July to stop use of the logo, saying it was too close to Ohio State’s own trademarked octagonal “block O” letter.

“While Ohio State recognizes there are many legitimate, nonconfusing uses of the letter ‘O,’ there can be no doubt that when the vast majority of people see a block ‘O’ they associate it with Ohio State and its Block O Marks,” Samantha Quimby, an attorney retained by Ohio State to argue its case, wrote in a July 19 letter to Overtime Sports. The university has used the block 0 since at least 1898, the letter said.

Overtime Sports disagrees with Ohio State’s position and filed a federal lawsuit Monday in New York City asking that the university be prohibited from trying to stop the use of the logo.

The lawsuit notes that Ohio State’s “O” contains neither rounded edges nor a rectangle in the center, as the company’s logo does. It also argued there’s no danger of someone confusing the letters, and that Overtime Sports has not unfairly competed with Ohio State or violated any of its rights.

Revenue from licensing royalties was $15.5 million last year and $207 million since the licensing program began in 1980.