In an article published in the March 25 issue of The Maroon, Erin Clements highlighted the recent controversy over our mascot. North Carolina State University has begun the process of bringing legal action against Loyola because, as it stands, they have the registered ownership of the “Wolfpack” team name and logo. The logo and name, which were trademarked in 1983, allows NC State to “use the mark on promotional materials, as well as on many commercial goods,” according to the Maroon article.
North Carolina State, although it has been in operation longer than Loyola, has failed to produce evidence that they have been using the Wolfpack identity longer than we have. The article in The Maroon points out that NC State has only clearly been using the logo since 1947 when Loyola has since at least 1932.
This simple fact that we’ve been using it for at least 15 years longer is enough to stand up in court and overrule the registration of the Wolfpack logo and name that NC State holds.
This attack from NC State is unwarranted and downright annoying. Don’t they have anything better to do than pick on little old Loyola? So what if we have the same team mascot?
The logo is much different and it isn’t even the same color. Their mascot displays a white group of wolves standing on red lettering as opposed to our maroon and yellow wolf head. I understand the legal department in North Carolina might be a little slow these days, thanks to Duke University churning out so many lawyers, but I think it’s clear to more people than me that this is a petty and unnecessary move by NC State.
I hope that this issue can be resolved and we can go back to enjoying our sports without having to change anything because, let’s be honest, I like having Havoc as my friend on Facebook.
Connor Grant
Finance sophomore
