Seattle Trademark Lawyer

Washington State University has caused a Texas high school to change its school logo, the Spokesman-Review stated yesterday. WSU believes Albilene, Tex.’s Cooper High School’s cougar head logo is too similar to its own cougar head logo. The high school has agreed to make the change.

Cooper Principal Gail Gregg said the school’s lawyers advised they didn’t have much of a chance to win the dispute.

“They advised us that if we fought it, there’s a slim chance we’d win, and if we got there it’d cost us more in legal fees than it would to replace all the logos.”

Confusingly similar? Cooper High School’s logo (left)
and WSU’s logos c.1964 (middle) and today

The cost to change the logo nonetheless will be big.

Mr. Gregg told the Abilene Reporter-News: “I’m going to shoot from the hip and say that it could be $40,000 to $50,000. [A]s you come on the campus, it’s just everywhere. It’s on just about every piece of our uniforms. It’s on our IDs. It’s on our trash cans. It’s on the gym floor. It’s on the gym wall. It’s on the scoreboard at Shotwell [Stadium].”

WSU reportedly adopted its logo in 1964, which it revised by adding the letters “WSU” in 1995. Cooper reportedly first used its logo in the 1960s, discontinued it for a time, and then brought it back in the early 1990s. WSU also reportedly discontinued its original logo for a time, though details are unclear.

Patent and Trademark Office records show WSU owns a registration for its current logo, which it obtained in 1984. WSU claims a first-use date of November 1959. I did not find any registration for its reportedly earlier design without the “WSU” lettering.

Mr. Gregg said he did not know who designed his school’s logo but thought the person must have had “strong ties to Washington State.”

WSU will give Cooper time to make the change. Both sides said they understand each other’s perspective and described their relationship as being cooperative.