Ohio State earlier this year "secured trademark designation for the name Woody Hayes from the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office," according to Tim Feran of the COLUMBUS DISPATCH. OSU Trademark & Licensing Services Dir Rick Van Brimmer said the school has been using Hayes' "image and name on products for years," but there has been an "increasing number of people using our marks." Van Brimmer: "This helps us in the long run." He added the amount of merchandise and royalty cash related to Hayes' name has "never been huge." Van Brimmer: "It's been very niche oriented and only in a way that honored Coach Hayes. ... There have been three different bobbleheads and a couple of non-apparel items. Other than that, it's been limited to use of his face and name on hats or T-shirts." Feran notes this marks the second OSU football coach whose name "has been trademarked by the university -- Urban Meyer's name was officially registered a year ago" (COLUMBUS DISPATCH, 4/22). Van Brimmer said the idea for a trademark started "innocently" with the name "Woody" on the back of a hat, just the kind the coach wore. He added that Hayes' family "has been 'wonderful' about the merchandise, directing the royalties to scholarship funds." Van Brimmer said that he and Hayes' son, Steven, "realized the arrangement was never formalized, and that prompted the trademark filing" (AP, 4/21).
