In addition to hosting football games, Ohio Stadium “has also hosted musical performances since at least as early as 1988 … including the Rolling Stones, Pink Floyd, Genesis and Billy Joel,” OSU says in its filing. The contention is that concerts put the casino’s Shoe in competition with OSU’s Shoe. Should the university have thought more broadly about its intellectual property protections? It registered “The Shoe” as a trademark in 2006 and has used the name “on various articles of clothing, toy collectables, photographs and artwork since at least as early as 1996,” OSU said in its filing. OSU seeks to block Caesars’ application, saying the two are direct competitors because both hold concerts at their venues. Caesars is seeking to register a plain-text version of the name and a logo for “live visual and audio performances.” Caesar’s filed a trademark registration for “The Shoe,” as the name of its Cincinnati casino concert venue. Now, the university has dropped the other shoe against Caesar’s Entertainment which owns the Horseshoe Casino in Cincinnati, Ohio. The Buckeyes’ century-old Ohio Stadium up in Columbus is nicknamed the Horseshoe for its distinctive shape - and often further abbreviated to “the Shoe.” Not only is The Ohio State University famous for football, but also for being extremely protective of its trademarks.
