KU VERSUS KU

Kutztown University in Pennsylvania calls itself KU.

The University of Kansas owns the trademark on KU, and has since 1938.

Now there are "serious issues" involving KU, according to an account in the Reading (Pa.) Eagle:

Neither of the colleges 1,136 miles apart seemed to suffer from the alphabetical sharing.

Then the issue came to light a few weeks ago. Someone saw that the new Kansas symbol the letters KU side by side in a Trajan font was nearly the same as the Kutztown logo developed two years ago.

“What an amazing coincidence that out of several hundred fonts they picked Trajan like we had,” said Dr. Philip R. Breeze, Kutztown spokesman. “It was fairly amusing.”

But a funny accident could potentially be a sticky legal case for both sides, officials agree.

“There are definitely some serious issues here,” said Paul Carttar, executive vice chancellor for external affairs at Kansas.

Kansas, like other nationally recognized colleges, earns a lot from its trademarked merchandise, so it must protect its images, he said.

“We have the federal right to use those letters for higher-education purposes so we don't believe we'll have to change our logo, but maybe they won't have to change either,” he said. “We're working together and I believe there will be an amicable resolution.”

Though neither of the state-owned schools will be forced to pay damages, Kansas could ask that Kutztown be ordered to stop using the letters, said attorney Jeff Hawkins of Pennsylvania's State System of Higher Education, who is representing Kutztown.

“Heading to court would be very expensive for both sides,” he said.

Meanwhile, the kids at Missouri State University insist that "Missouri State" -- and not MSU -- is the style. That is not the case with the headlines in the local newspaper. In East Lansing, Mich., we doubt there is any angst about Missouri State.