National coverage of the use of a ""W"" logo similar to UW-Madison's ""Motion W"" at a high school in Waukee, Iowa, has fueled media attention to other high schools across the nation with similar logos.
Cindy Van Matre, director of licensing for UW-Madison, said Oct. 16 there have been more than 20 incidents in the last three years dealing with high schools' trademark violations, and there are probably many more the university has not yet discovered.
Westside High School in Clear Folk, W.Va., may be another such incidence.
""Whenever we find out that somebody's using the logo and does not have authority to use that, we send them a letter notifying them that the university has a registered trademark,"" Van Matre said. ""Some of the West Virginia media are aware that there are some high schools in West Virginia that are using the logo.""
Van Matre added no action has been taken against Westside.
""They're just assuming that we're going to be contacting them,"" Van Matre said. ""And we will be, but we have not at this point.""
Frank Blackwell, Wyoming County schools superintendent, confirmed Van Matre's statement, but added Westside would ""most definitely"" take the case to court if it became an issue.
""We feel like it has nothing to do with Wisconsin's university, and yes, we would fight it legally,"" Blackwell said.
Blackwell added if there was a court order against Westside, the school would be forced to change its logo, but said it would not change anything before a possible lawsuit.
Van Matre stressed phasing out logos does not cost schools a significant amount of money because usually logos are used for things like football helmet decals, which must be reordered every year and can be different designs from years previous.
According to Blackwell, Westside, with the leadership of Principal Deborah Marsh, formed its ""W"" from a specific font found online.
Such use of a font differs from the ""Motion W"", which is a ""unique logo—it's not part of any font that's used,"" according to Van Matre. ""It was created especially for the University of Wisconsin, originally for the football team to be used on the side of the football helmets.""
From that point, it was used by the Athletic Department and became a recognizable logo for UW-Madison.
""When other outside entities start using it, it no longer becomes unique to the University of Wisconsin,"" Van Matre said. ""It could become a generic logo, so when you have a federally registered logo, one of your obligations is to protect it.""
