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February 08, 2007
UT Regents Hacked, I mean Saw'ed Off, with Aggieland Outfitters' Use of Longhorn Logo
As a precursor, I am a graduate from the University of Oklahoma and I have admittedly participated in the OU/TX college rivalry by displaying upside-down longhorns on numerous t-shirts as well as the back windshield of my car. So I simply could not pass up the opportunity to share this story with you about two of OU’s rival schools. 
The University of Texas Board of Regents recently filed suit against Aggieland Outfitters, a Texas A&M apparel store owned by Fadi Kalaouze in College Station, Texas.
Aggieland Outfitters sells various apparel items featuring the "Saw’em off" logo (seen right). The lawsuit asks that Kalaouze destroy all current logos and refrain from using the "Saw’em off" logo in the future. The UT Regents argue that the similarity of the marks is likely to create consumer confusion and that Aggieland has been and continues to be unjustly enriched at UT's expense by the unauthorized use of the "Saw’em off" mark. Kalaouze argues that the mark is a parody and is protected by the First Amendment.
What are your thoughts? Is this a parody? Is this just poor sportsmanship? Do you think consumers would confuse the UT longhorn silhouette with an upside-down longhorn or one with sawed-off horns? Isn’t this just all part of college rivalry?
Boomer Sooner!
P.S. As a side note, Aggieland Outfitters has set up a legal defense fund at, http://www.sawemoff.com.
Posted by Emily E. Campbell at 04:01 PM.
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Tracked on February 8, 2007 05:25 PM
As a devout, life-long Longhorn, I abhor any misuse of our beloved BEVO mark. However, as an attorney, this is clearly a parody and I think the regents are going just a little overboard in their zealous attempts to protect the mark. For those outside of the UT-OU-aTm circle, this can be a very fierce rivalry (similar to Ohio State-Michigan and Army-Navy), and the feeling is that there are some powerful alumni who are a little bitter over the recent football season that drove this suit. The store owner has been selling these shirts for several years and it was only when the football team lost this past year that the suit was filed.
I first saw a similar report on burntorangenation.com (a football blog). Just run a search for the word "suit" and, as of this morning, the first result in the entry about this.
Posted by: Gene S at February 9, 2007 08:21 AM
Only a stupid T'sipper would confuse the UT longhorn
silhouette with an upside-down longhorn or one with
sawed-off horn!!!
Posted by: J.D. Bellie at February 9, 2007 04:34 PM
You gotta be kidding, the t.u. "Bored" of Regents has nothing better to do than silly lawsuits? I am not an attorney, nor do I play one on television, but this is baseless. Leave it to a t-sip to be so sadly pathetic. I hope the courts saw their horns off too, just the Aggies did the day after Thanksgiving.
Gig'Em
Sam
Posted by: Sam Anderson at February 12, 2007 07:14 PM
