Rutgers tells Louisiana high school: Stop using our logo

Former NFL Most Valuable Player and College Football Hall of Fame inductee Bert Jones, nicknamed the “Ruston Rifle,” said he does not hold any animosity toward Rutgers University, which has asked his high school alma mater to change its logo.

STORY UPDATE: Misconceptions exacerbate Rutgers’ woes in logo controversy

Ruston High School in northern Louisiana, which had adopted a block “R” identical to that which Rutgers University has trademarked as its official logo, has agreed to use a new design at the state university's request.

According to Ricky Durrett, Supervisor of Secondary Education for Lincoln Parish Schools, he and officials from Ruston High School received a cease-and-desist letter earlier this year from Learfield Sports, a Texas-based marketing company which manages the Rutgers brand, asking the school to stop using the logo.

Durrett said Ruston High School, whose most famous football alumnus is Jones, a star quarterback for the Baltimore Colts and Los Angeles Rams from 1973 through 1982, will have a decade to remove the block “R” logo from its uniforms, buildings, facilities, playing fields, sports apparel, social media platforms and school website.

“I think it’s unfortunate," said Jones, who was the NFL's Most Valuable Player in 1976 and a consensus All-American at Louisiana State University. "I certainly don’t hold any animosity toward Rutgers University. I’ve always enjoyed following them from afar having played (for) years on the East Coast. It’s certainly not going to be an easy change. I thought we had that same block letter R when I was at Ruston High School in 1969. I guess it is what it is.”

Jones said he and his father, Dub, a three-time NFL champion and two-time Pro Bowl selection who played halfback for the Cleveland Browns, still attend football games at his high school alma mater, adding he will be interested to see Ruston High School's new logo design.

"Rutgers has given Ruston High School officials up to 10 years to replace the logo on major athletic equipment, and to resolve any other trademark infringement issues, over a period that aligns with the school’s regular replacement schedule," said Dory Devlin, Rutgers University's senior director of university news and media relations.

"We thank the Ruston High School officials for their cooperation in working with us to resolve this matter and appreciate the students, teachers and community members who support the outstanding Ruston athletic program.

"Rutgers, like other major universities, federally registers its trademarks, which include the block R. When trademark infringement instances come to our attention, we address them for several important reasons: to maintain the trademark registration, to avoid confusion among brand marks, and to ensure that logos registered under Rutgers’ name are used for their intended purpose."

It is unclear if the state university has sent similar cease-and-desist letters to other school districts, including at least three in New Jersey which appear to be using the trademarked block "R" logo.

The request from Rutgers prompted critical remarks on social media and fan forums from supporters of the Ruston Bearcats, who claim the legal victory will be the state university’s only win on the football field this season and that the high school has produced more Division I players than the Scarlet Knights.

“On social media, people were like, some school in New Jersey is really worked up about what a little high school in Louisiana is doing?” Durrett said. “So, you trademark a letter of the alphabet? What’s next to trademark? I certainly understand schools wanting certain emblems to be theirs, but it didn’t go over well down here.

“As far as from a school standpoint, once they contacted me, we said, ‘OK. Fine. Let’s change it.’ It wasn’t something to fight over. We don’t have the resources to go to court. We’ll get us a new R and move on. It just is what it is.”

As much as Rutgers’ image is taking a hit from supporters of the Ruston High School football program, which MaxPreps ranked among the Top 20 in Louisiana last season, the issue of high schools using trademarked logos of college athletics programs is widespread.

Lee Green, an attorney and professor emeritus of sports and business law at Baker University in Kansas, in a column for the National Federation of High School Associations, reported that “a flood of challenges have been made by universities to the use of nicknames, logos, colors, mascots and other insignia by high schools.”

Green wrote dozens of colleges and universities in the last decade – including Penn State, Texas, Notre Dame, Wisconsin, Arizona, Pittsburgh, West Virginia and Florida – have sent cease-and-desist letters to hundreds of school districts nationwide.

“In some instances,” Green wrote, “a single university has sent cease-and-desist letters to as many as 50 high schools using nicknames, logos or mascots even remotely similar to those of the college.”

Durrett said Ruston High School, classified in the Louisiana High School Athletic Association as a Group 5A high school, which is the state’s largest group classification, features the block “R” on its football field, basketball court, newly installed turf baseball complex, on a new scoreboard in the football stadium and elsewhere.

He said Ruston High School’s block “R” has evolved over the last 12 to 15 years and the high school’s use of the logo had not previously been challenged.

Durrett said supporters of Ruston High School, which has an enrollment of more than 1,300 students, frequently purchased Rutgers athletics gear and apparel in recent years, adding he believed such transactions will now come to a grinding halt.

“From our perspective, I thought they were also profiting from (Ruston High School’s use of the logo), which now we are going to change, so I guess nobody will be ordering from Louisiana off the Rutgers website, which I think would have just been bonus sales for them.

"From what I understood, (Learfield Sports and Rutgers) didn’t see it that way.”