THE

LEGEND

The root of THE controversy is the dispute over rights for the use of the word "Ohio." With the founding dates of the schools being 1804 (OU) and 1870 (OSU), Ohio University disputed Ohio State using the term Ohio on uniforms and other merchandise citing their date of origin and the general public using it when referring to their school.  A sixteen month long legal battle ensued resulting in Ohio State dropping their challenge and the trademark rights being granted to Ohio University in 1995.  Since then "THE" has been a prominent addition to the university's title.