Colleges Need Free Speech More Than Trademarks

By Jacob H. Rooksby. What’s in a trademark? To many people in higher education, mention of the term—which denotes the legal protection afforded words or other devices that identify a good's or service’s source—leads to bewildered looks. "You mean the designs on shirts sold in the bookstore?"
Trademarks in higher education encompass institutional names, logos, and insignias, the iconography that fans love to see featured on all kinds of merchandise. Institutions license their marks on these products, often relying on third parties to broker deals that can produce significant royalties. This $4.6-billion industry appears to be good for colleges, which exploit the revenue channel to make up for losses elsewhere in their operations. More...