In November 2024, fans of Ohio State watched as the Michigan football team planted its flag on the Ohio Stadium turf following a 13-10 victory, marking its fourth-straight win in the long-standing rivalry. Earlier that year, Ann Arbor’s The Brown Jug restaurant launched a new beer on tap called Buckeye Tears.
In August 2024, the restaurant officially applied for a trademark for “Buckeye Tears.” This past August, OSU filed a notice of opposition against the trademark request, claiming the product “dilutes the distinctiveness” of OSU’s brand. While The Brown Jug can continue selling the beer onsite no matter the outcome of the case, by trademarking the phrase, the restaurant could potentially expand the product and distribute it to other retailers.
The restaurant submitted an initial answer to the notice Oct. 6, stating Buckeye Tears refers to the sentiment that “Ohio State and its supporters may on occasion act like sore losers.” Both OSU’s media and public relations team and The Brown Jug declined to comment on the case.
In an email to The Michigan Daily, Law School professor Jessica Litman wrote The Brown Jug will need to convince the United States Patent and Trademark Office that consumers will not be confused or misled by the product in order to win the case.
“Ohio State is arguing primarily that the Brown Jug’s use of BUCKEYE TEARS as a trademark will confuse consumers who will erroneously believe that Ohio State licensed, sponsored, or is otherwise connected with Brown Jug’s BUCKEYE TEARS products,” Litman wrote. “It is also arguing that the BUCKEYE mark is a very famous mark, so that any business’s use of a mark with BUCKEYE in it will damage the distinctiveness of its marks.”
In an interview with The Daily, LSA junior Mia Wang, philanthropy chair for Michigan Business Law, said that she does not believe consumers will think OSU is associated with the product.
“If consumers see Buckeye Tears as just a fun little reference to the Ohio-Michigan rivalry, they might perceive it more as a joke rather than believing that Ohio State itself is producing it or endorsing the product,” Wang said.
Wang said since OSU doesn’t exclusively own the word buckeye and The Brown Jug uses the phrase without scarlet and gray colors, a block O or the school’s mascot — Brutus Buckeye — the restaurant has a stronger case.
“If there are no logos or colors used, it really helps The Brown Jug’s argument that there’s no misleading representation,” Wang said. “Buckeye could literally mean a nut if you don’t associate it with any Ohio State branding.”
The Brown Jug’s response to the notice of opposition also noted that the word buckeye has many uses, including the more than 5,700 registered Ohio businesses with “buckeye” in the name, which OSU does not challenge. The restaurant claims OSU is infringing on its First Amendment rights.
“The generic use of ‘buckeye’ to refer to Ohioans goes back to at least 1788,” the statement read. “In its early meaning, the term ‘buckeye’ was used to convey that Ohioans as a group were ‘untaught’ and ‘awkward.’ It was not until over 100 years later that Ohio State, the leading public institution of higher learning in Ohio, thought that it should also use this word to refer to its students and commercial offerings.”
Jacob Miziko, a manager at The Brown Jug, told The Daily the University’s rivalry with OSU has been even more intense recently after OSU’s repeated losses.
“I don’t think it’s ever really been a respectful rivalry,” Miziko said. “I always think it’s been cutthroat. Especially with the last four years, it just seems that Ohio State is just seething to get that win — to have the epitome of dominance that they’ve been so long searching for. Last year, sure, they won a national championship, but they didn’t win the game that matters, and so that’s something that we can still throw in their face.”
Wang said she thinks OSU is expending energy on this dispute because they want to set a strong legal precedent.
“For Ohio State, this win could really show how aggressively they protect their Buckeye brand,” Wang said. “Just like Michigan — we protect the (block) ‘M’ with our lives — it’ll be the same thing with Ohio State. It shows that they’re not willing to step away from a fight, and that keeps their mark famous and strong, and it also sets precedent for future disputes.”
Daily Staff Reporter Dominic Apap can be reached at dapap@umich.edu.
