NCAA - University of Iowa, University of Southern
Mississippi
U. of Iowa Asks U. of Southern Mississippi to
Change Logo
School officials say Eagles' logo too similar to
Hawkeyes' trademark
HATTIESBURG — University of Iowa officials have asked
the Southern Miss to get rid of its Golden Eagle logo,
saying it looks too much like the Hawkeyes' trademark.
"We've had the 'Tiger Hawk' logo for 20, 25 years,
and the Southern Mississippi logo seems confusingly
similar," Iowa spokesman Steve Parrott said. "We
congratulate Southern Mississippi on its taste in logos,
but we've contacted Southern Mississippi and asked them
to change it, because we feel it's too close to ours."
Officials at Southern Miss are balking. "I'm not sure
what the whole deal is," athletics director Richard
Giannini said. "But I don't think they look anything
alike. The only thing they have in common is they are
both bird heads and they're both the same color, but
there's no other similarity."
Southern Miss introduced the new Eagle-head logo in
January 2003 as part of a brand-identity campaign that
included standard colors, fonts and logos for all
aspects of the school's athletics.
The logo had avoided the radar of Iowa officials
until Southern Miss hired men's basketball coach Larry
Eustachy, who previously coached at Iowa State
University. Media coverage of the hiring in Iowa brought
the issue to the attention of school officials.
"We saw the coverage, and saw the hat he was
wearing," Parrott said.
Southern Miss attorney Lee Gore said the university
had been contacted by Iowa about the logo. He termed the
discussions "preliminary," and said no lawsuit had been
filed.
"We've had some discussions with them," Gore said.
"We're trying to figure out why they think they have a
claim."
Parrott said Iowa wants its logo to be distinctive,
and pointed to a scheduled basketball game between
Southern Miss of Conference USA and Iowa in Iowa City
this December.
"We don't want to confuse people," he said.
Parrott said he would not speculate on whether the
school would pursue litigation, and that Iowa officials
were waiting to see how USM responded.
Gore said the matter was being handled by USM's
intellectual property lawyer, J.T. Martin of Washington,
D.C.
The school's new logo was developed by RARE Design of
Hattiesburg. The company is owned by Rodney Richardson,
a USM graduate.
"I don't know about what's going on between Southern
Miss and Iowa," Richardson said. "But I do know when you
talk about comparisons with graphics, the athletic
marketplace is such a crowded field that comparisons are
inevitable."
Richardson said anytime RARE is designing a new logo,
the company does background checks and researches the
marks of other teams to avoid infringement.
"I hate to hear this, because I think stylistically,
the marks aren't similar," he said. "I think it's driven
by the fact that the two schools have similar colors and
similar animals for mascots more than anything else."
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