Abstract
University logos and insignias—once limited to athletic uniforms and official stationery—now appear on everything from high-end apparel to mass-produced mugs. Collegiate merchandising is a massive industry, generating $14.8 billion in 2023 alone. Infringers have followed close behind, producing look-alike goods that blur the line between authorized merchandise and unauthorized imitation. As universities increasingly pursue infringers, defendants have seized on a principle of trademark law to fight back: the ornamental use doctrine. Originally intended to prevent the registration of marks that serve merely as decorative features rather than source identifiers, the doctrine has morphed into an affirmative defense that challenges the validity of the plaintiff’s mark. Alleged infringers argue that university logos emblazoned on t-shirts, hats, or posters are not functioning as trademarks at all, but instead merely as ornamentation. This strategy has become increasingly common in collegiate merchandising cases, where infringers adopt school colors, mascots, and emblems to capitalize on consumer demand while disavowing any intent to deceive. In asserting ornamental use, these defendants seek not only to avoid liability but to undermine the enforceability of the marks at issue. The result is a growing body of case law in which courts are asked to determine whether the presence of a university mark on merchandise is a legitimate trademark use or simply an ornamental use. …
Recommended Citation
Isabel M. Carvalho,
Friday Night Rights: Ornamental Use in Collegiate Sports Merchandising,
60
U. Rich. L. Rev.
811
(2026).
Available at:
https://scholarship.richmond.edu/lawreview/vol60/iss3/7
