Interlocking “UT” Logo Trademark Shared by Tennessee and Texas

In 1986 the University of Tennessee and the University of Texas agreed to share the well-known interlocking “UT” trademark that both schools use. Tennessee applied for registration of the trademark for the sale of jewelry, paper, metal and leather goods, as well as printed matter, housewares, glassware, and clothing. Texas owned registration of the trademark for educational and entertainment goods. Tennessee’s and Texas’s trademarks are different but similar enough to cause confusion to manufacturers, who have used them interchangeably in the past. The agreement gave Texas commercial rights to the trademark west of the Mississippi River and Tennessee the rights east of the Mississippi and in West Baton Rouge Parish, Louisiana (home of LSU).