How Universities Turn Slogans Into Cash

If you want to sell a T-shirt that says “Bring the Juice”—and who among us hasn’t?—you’ll have to clear it with Robert P. Cleveland.

Mr. Cleveland is director of trademark and licensing at Ohio State University, which has owned the trademark on “Bring the Juice” since 2012, along with several dozen other words and phrases.

The Chronicle just published a poem composed entirely of college-owned trademarks. I wrote it after combing through the federal trademark database to see if I could make a list of the weirdest ones. But there were too many, and a list wouldn’t have done them justice.

Of course, trademarks are big business for some colleges. Mr. Cleveland’s office pulled in $13.6-million through trademark licenses in the most recent fiscal year alone. The biggest portion of that money went to the athletics program, but the licensing office also disbursed $2.8-million to academic programs and more than $1-million to student affairs.

Owning a trademark doesn’t mean owning a monopoly on a word or phrase. When a college applies for a trademark, it has to specify what goods and services it sells (or plans to) with that mark, explains Steven McDonald, general counsel at the Rhode Island School of Design. The college must then continue selling those things in order for its mark to remain valid, he says.

In the case of T-shirts and other apparel, Ohio State has a “master apparel agreement” with J.America, a clothing company. So anyone seeking permission to sell “Bring the Juice” shirts would be out of luck.

But for other merchandise, you can fill out forms to apply for a license to trade on the university’s marks. In an email, Mr. Cleveland describes what happens next:

On the second Tuesday of each month we gather with our review board to review the application and samples. The board comprises a number of local retail buyers and two of our office staff. The buyers score the applicant on a scale of one to 10 and give us a feel for needs and opportunities in the marketplace. Three of our office staff gather shortly thereafter to do a final scoring assessment based on opportunity, quality/risk, experience, references, and finally the scores from the buyers.

And that’s how Buckeye Tartan™ cologne happens.