Owning a (Wholesome) Four Letter Word

I’m not talking about those kinds of four letter words (by the way, we’re still awaiting the Brunetti decision to learn their fate), so today I’m talking about this wholesome kind:

Inquiring minds may wonder (and interested alumni) how the University of Iowa might go about owning federally-registered rights in the word IOWA to convert that ™ symbol to an ® symbol?

The easiest place to start would be to claim the word has acquired distinctiveness for the typical clothing offerings of a Big Ten University athletic program in combination with the distinctive color combination, gold on black:

 

 

And, black on gold:

But, what about the word only, without being limited by font or the distinctive color combination?

No problem. Judging from another four letter truncation of a University name, it’s doable with a showing of acquired distinctiveness too.

And some may be surprised to know this remains true, even when the truncation constitutes the complete name of a State.

Go ahead and ask Indiana, Michigan, Illinois, Wisconsin, and Nebraska, to name just a few.

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