The Bayou Classic is more than an annual, nationally televised football game between heated rivals and a cultural institution. It’s a valuable brand that belongs to Southern and Grambling State universities.
Or does it?
A new Business Report feature from the current issue details a legal battle involving a Prairieville man who says the Bayou Classic trademark is his, and that anyone who wants to use it—including some of America’s best-known companies—should pay him instead of the schools involved in the game.
The dispute dates back to 2004, when several registrations with the Louisiana Secretary of State for trademarks related to the Bayou Classic were allowed to expire, according to court documents filed by the Southern University System Foundation. To correct the apparent oversight, the foundation recently filed new trademark applications with the Secretary of State, only to be denied because a Baton Rouge man named Andre Henderson had taken advantage of the lapse and snapped up several of those registrations himself in 2012 and 2013.
Henderson had been a licensee of the Bayou Classic marks through the Collegiate Licensing Company, Southern’s licensing agent. Southern officials say they asked Henderson to cancel what they consider improper registrations but that Henderson wouldn’t give them a straight answer.
Southern officials say perhaps that’s because Henderson assigned his registrations to Gary Shelton of Prairieville in late 2013, which prompted the Southern Foundation to send cease-and-desist letters and later sue both men.
“Mr. Henderson has never responded to the lawsuit,” the Southern foundation’s legal counsel says in a prepared statement provided to Business Report. “While Mr. Shelton has at least responded, he is under the mistaken belief that registering the trademark somehow gave him the right to own the mark. It is basic intellectual property law that registration of the trademark will not grant Mr. Shelton ownership of the Bayou Classic trademark. … Perhaps it was an honest misunderstanding of the law. But neither Mr. Henderson nor Mr. Shelton has any rights to the mark.”
Read the full feature. Send your comments to editors@businessreport.com.
