The Ohio State Buckeyes’ attempt to trademark “The” (“when used in conjunction with the university’s name on items marketed for sale“) has understandably received a lot of Twitter clowning, but maybe the funniest response came from their Big Ten East rivals at the University of Michigan. Here’s what the official Michigan Twitter account sent out Wednesday:
— University of Michigan (@UMich) August 14, 2019
Well played, Michigan. The Wolverines may have lost the last seven football games between the schools, but they won this round. And they weren’t the only school dunking on Ohio State over this. Ohio University also got in a good shot:
Good morning from THE first university in the state of Ohio. 😏 pic.twitter.com/oG4Jvb7JpP
— Ohio University (@ohiou) August 14, 2019
As did a lot of people on Twitter:
The Ohio State University has filed a trademark application on the word "THE."
The filing, made on August 8th, indicates #OhioState is offering a brand of "THE" clothing.
Not sure how 'The U' will feel about this one.
My analysis 👇:#BuckeyeNation #MiamiHurricanes pic.twitter.com/1UvLOAOnIc
— Josh Gerben (@JoshGerben) August 13, 2019
The best thing about OSU trying to trademark “The” is that The Ohio University was founded 66 years before Ohio A&M, and 74 years before Ohio A&M petitioned the state to change its name to “The Ohio State University” in order to mirror its older brother
— Timothy Burke (@bubbaprog) August 14, 2019
Due to Ohio State trying to trademark "The", I vote @AuburnU shoot for the stars and file for "University"
— Tom (@ths0002) August 14, 2019
Ohio State’s trademark application for the word “The” is doing swimmingly on Reddit’s #NotTheOnion section: https://t.co/bc8j0LrTCB pic.twitter.com/hgkNXHFylN
— RedditCFB (@RedditCFB) August 14, 2019
I remember THE time that THE Ohio State University lost THE game to Iowa by THE score of 55 to 24 pic.twitter.com/NBc9X0fawD
— RossWB (@RossWB) August 14, 2019
Unfortunately, English post-punk band The The has not yet weighed in.
About Andrew Bucholtz
Andrew Bucholtz has been covering sports media for Awful Announcing since 2012. He is also a staff writer for The Comeback. His previous work includes time at Yahoo! Sports Canada and Black Press.