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A Tennessee middle school was threatened with legal action by the University of Cincinnati. It forbids using the Bearcats’ mascot in any way, including name, image, or likeness. There will be no exceptions made.
In the weeks leading up to the new year, the middle school is thus compelled to completely rebrand. Cheatham Middle School is situated in Ashland City, Tennessee,
About thirty miles outside of Nashville. About 600 kids in grades five through eight are enrolled in the school. The Bearcat is presently its mascot.
But that mascot will soon be replaced by someone entirely different due to a licensing dispute. Earlier this month, Cincinnati sent Cheatham its first cease-and-desist letter.
Parents, community members, teachers, and students The University of Cincinnati recently sent a cease-and-desist letter to the Cheatham County.
School District about copyright and license violations committed by Cheatham Middle School. We proposed to the university that they remove the current logo and replace.
It with a new one, but we were told that they could not use or refer to themselves as the “Bearcats” any more since they also owned the rights for sports licensing that phrase.
The only sensible option left to us is to change the Cheatham Middle Mascot and rebrand. We would want to start the rebranding process by getting your feedback since the shift will happen quickly.
In order to help us narrow down the field and ultimately choose our new mascot for Cheatham Middle School in the next weeks, kindly take a minute to complete the questions in the link below!
Cincinnati is overreacting to this usage of their mascot, and that’s exactly what it is. For a few dollars, the school could license.
Its mascot to a group of 11–14-year-olds, or at the very least, let them use the name but not the logo. It’s a Tennessee middle school. I mean, no foul, no harm?
False! The institution is reluctant to establish a flexible precedent for any/all future uses since it is very protective of its mascot and any/all associated assets.
Cheatham Middle School informed us a few months ago that the University of Cincinnati was using its trademarks.
The other party is contacted to inform them of the University’s rights and request that they cease using the marks when we or our licensing firm, the Collegiate Licensing Company (CLC),
Discover infringing conduct. In order to fully grasp the scope of the issue, we asked CMS to list the several ways in which they had incorporated UC’s identity into their workflow.
We appreciate Cheatham Middle School’s desire to use UC’s recognizable, internationally and domestically known trademarks. However, CMS never asked for authorization to do so.
We retain the right to use the UC marks exclusively, just as many other institutions and well-known corporations spend much in protecting their own marks.
We acknowledge that there could be some annoyances, but it is our duty to uphold and defend the University’s trademark rights.