More about university trademarks and politics

As I reported earlier, colleges and universities have been actively enforcing their trademarks. These schools used to allow their name to be used on pretty much everything, and not collect any royalties. That has now changed, and schools are stopping any unauthorized use of their trademarks- often relating to the name of the school, the mascot name, and the school colors. The schools obviously cannot control all use, and there are many fair use exceptions: news reports, information about the school, etc. However, pretty much any commercial use is now being stopped.

Turns out that the University of Missouri-Columbia (MU) has become a de facto force in local political races, including the state senate. Twenty-one political candidates were expected to turn out for the school's homecoming parade. Many candidates are pushing their ties to the university and their desire to bring more funding to the school. This is OK if they want to mention this in speeches, in a non-commercial context. However, according to The Columbia Daily Tribune, candidates have been going a little too far. Some candidates have been putting MU trademarks in their commercials, and also using MU trademarks in their campaign literature. The school has been contacting candidates to stop using their trademarks in print and in commercials. Quite clearly, this kind of trademark use essentially implies an endorsement by MU, and they are right to enforce their trademark rights.

Now what about going after the fraternities that put the name of the school on their Greek Week t-shirts. Is this fair use?

On a small side note, this is yet another news article that uses the terms "trademark" and "copyright" interchangeably. As I explained in "Difference between patent, trademark, and copyright," trademarks and copyrights are different. Trademarks identify the source of goods and services (usually a name or a logo), and copyrights protect something expressed in a fixed medium (such as text, sounds, or pictures). Quoting the article:

In their effort to link themselves with MU, some campaigns have gone beyond what the campus would like by placing copyrighted MU trademarks or names in campaign literature. MU and its licensing department have asked those campaigns to stop using those materials.

Earlier this week, MU Chancellor Brady Deaton said he’s noticed more examples of copyright misuses than in past elections and the campus is concerned by it.

[Emphasis added]

I'm sorry, but trademarks are not copyrighted and vice versa. It's either one or the other. A copyright would cover something like a t-shirt design with the MU name/logo. A trademark covers the MU name or logo. The two terms are not synonymous, and people should really stop using the terms interchangeably. Without researching this matter further, I am almost completely sure that the problems here are trademark related, and have nothing to do with trademarks.