Vanderbilt vs. Tennessee: The Trademark Rivalry

It’s college football rivalry week at Trust Tree!

My Vanderbilt Commodores travel to Knoxville this weekend to take on Kevin and George’s University of Tennessee Volunteers. It’s the 110th contest between the schools, and UT leads the series 74–30–5.

UT is a 17.5 point favorite with an over/under of 40.5. Given Vandy’s offensive struggles, I suggest taking the under. You can thank me later.

While UT is expected to win the football game, Vanderbilt is the clear victor off the field when it comes to school trademarks. Vandy has 77 live registrations and 6 pending applications while UT has 33 live registrations and 9 pending applications.

Vanderbilt’s registrations include ‘DORES (U.S. Reg. No. 3,365,311), ANCHOR DOWN (U.S. Reg. No. 4,331,144), and WHO YA WIT (U.S. Reg. No. 3,683,483). Vandy also has registrations for its “Star V” (U.S. Reg. No. 3,255,409) and anchor logos (U.S. Reg. No. 4,613,433).

UT has registrations for VOLS (U.S. Reg. No. 4,514,016), the Power T logo (U.S. Reg. No. 2,445,722), and its signature orange and white checkerboard design (U.S. Reg. No. 2,616,220).

While Vandy dominates UT at the trademark game, UT has a sizable edge when it comes to recent merchandise sales. UT ranked #7 in the Collegiate Licensing Company’s ranking of top selling universities for the third quarter of 2015. Vandy checked in at #54. Maybe Vandy can close the gap as we head into basketball season. In case you haven’t noticed, Vandy is really, really good at basketball this year.

Getting back to football, don’t write Vandy off yet. If the Dores can get any offensive production, then this game could get interesting. After all, this is what happened the last time Vandy traveled to Knoxville.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mJzRnCxcCso