MILWAUKEE – When energy economist Dr. Edward Hirs applied for a trademark on the phrase “buckynomics,” the sweater-clad badger mascot of the University of Wisconsin was the furthest thing from his mind.
“”Oh, for crying out loud,” Hirs said, beginning his mock-contentious appearance on Wisconsin’s Afternoon News.
The exasperated Energy Fellow at the University of Houston is dealing with a lawsuit from UW-Madison over his use of that phrase and “buckymarkets,” two trademarks he has applie for at the U.S. Patent and Trademark office.
“It’s not just students, I use [them] to get clients to pay me huge amounts of money so I can explain energy markets to them,” he said.
Hirs based the terms on his time working in the lab of Texas scientists Richard Smalley and Robert Curl, who discovered a form of carbon called “buckyballs” for short, comparing the structure of the molecules to the markets he describes.
Mindi Giftos is a partner at Husch Blackwell and an expert on trademark law. She explained to WTMJ what she believes the university’s perspective is.
“Well, this is a famous mark, it’s well known. Everyone when they hear Bucky is going to associate it with the University of Wisconsin, and here you are, a professor in Texas, there can be some confusion there,” Giftos said.
Giftos thinks both sides have a legitimate argument, and said this is part of a recent trend of sports teams being protective of their mascots and logos rather than allowing other local businesses to use them.
“They have found that it’s really hard to maintain their trademark rights when they do that. So in the last ten years or so you’ve seen a lot more efforts by university sports team to really police their marks and rein them in.”
The main question on Hirs’ mind is – why him? Why did the University of Wisconsin decide to sue him?
“I mean, for goodness sake, if you’re going to sue someone with the Bucky name what about Bucky Barnes? You know, the Winter Soldier, at Marvel?’ Hirs said.
And of course, the Texan couldn’t resist one last dig at Wisconsin.
“Wisconsin hasn’t won any national titles in football, so why would anybody in Texas be paying attention to them?”
