Jury Deliberates KU T-Shirt Lawsuit

A federal jury is deliberating whether a Lawrence T-shirt seller infringed on the University of Kansas' trademarks. The university accuses Larry Sinks of producing sometimes
offensive T-shirts that look too much like official KU merchandise.
Sinks sells merchandise at Joe-College.com in Lawrence. The
university is seeking more than $500,000 from Sink.

The university is upset that the T-shirts are blue and that they have the words Kansas and Hawk printed on them. KU attorney Charlie Henn said Sinks and screen printing business
owner Chuck Orth intentionally used Kansas trademarks "to make a
buck."

"It's their colors, they've invested in it for years and years, they own it legally and I think this guy is ripping them off," former KU employee Marilyn Hull said. But Sinks said he went to great lengths to inform customers that
his T-shirts were not official Kansas merchandise. He said more
than 200 signs in his shop inform customers that the shirts are not
licensed by KU.

The store manager told KMBC's Dan Weinbaum that nothing in the store says KU or University of Kansas or Jayhawk.

The jury will resume its deliberations next week.

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• JoeCollege
• KU
• university
• trademark
• lawsuit