University of Florida

Non-Traditional TMsTraditional TMs
Written By Justin Powley
Cartoon stick figure with a basketball pointing at a whiteboard reading 'University of Florida,' alongside the Gators mascot — representing a Final Four 2025 blog post about Florida Gators’ trademarks.

Trademark: University of Florida

First Used: 1905

Current Owner: UNIVERSITY OF FLORIDA BOARD OF TRUSTEES [1]

Trademark Type: traditional trademark; word mark; design mark; non-traditional trademark; trade dress; configuration mark

Primarily Associated With: providing courses of instruction for others at the university level [2]

Brief (and likely incomplete) History:

March Madness® [3] is winding down and the Final Four® [4] is set. Congrats to the Florida Gators, Duke Blue Devils, Houston Cougars, and Auburn Tigers! The games don’t start until next weekend, but we are getting a jump start at looking at the trademark registrations for the Final Four and each team. Today, let’s look at the trademark portfolio for the Florida Gators.

No matter what name you call the school (ok, within reason), they likely registered it as a trademark: UNIVERSITY OF FLORIDA® [5], FLORIDA GATORS® [6], UF® [7], U OF F® [8], FIGHTING GATORS® [9], and GATORS® [10] are all registered trademarks used with a variety of goods and services including providing courses of instruction for others at the university level, clothing, and entertainment services, namely, arranging and conducting athletic events, tournaments and exhibitions.

The school also has a number of unique slogans, all used in connection with clothing, including ROWDY REPTILES® [11], THE SWAMP® [12], SCARED MONEY DON’T MAKE MONEY® [13], and GATOR CHOMP® [14].

Of course, the school also has some famous logos worn on clothing by people all across the country, including the Gators Design Mark [15], the Alligator Design Mark [16], and the Gator Head Design Mark [17].

Finally, the school also proudly owns some cool non-traditional trademark registrations. Mascots so famous that they trademarked them! The unique trade dress and configuration of the Florida Gator’s mascots are captured in trademarks for the Gator Mascot Cap & Shirt Configuration [18] and the Gator Mascot Bow & Dress Configuration [19]. Both configuration marks are registered in connection with entertainment services, namely, live appearances by a costumed character.

Interested in learning more about trademarks from other 2025 sporting events? Check out our 2025 posts on College Football National Championship, Super Bowl, Stanley Cup, NBA Finals, WNBA Finals, World Series, and MLS Cup.

Copyright © 2025 by Illustrated IP, LLC. All rights reserved.

[1] Men’s Basketball, FLORIDA GATORS, https://floridagators.com/sports/mens-basketball.

[2] USPTO, U.S. Trademark Registration No. 1,816,209, available at https://tsdr.uspto.gov/#caseNumber=74326417&caseSearchType=US_APPLICATION&caseType=DEFAULT&searchType=statusSearch.

[3] USPTO, U.S. Trademark Registration No. 2,485,443, available at https://tsdr.uspto.gov/#caseNumber=74360563&caseSearchType=US_APPLICATION&caseType=DEFAULT&searchType=statusSearch.

[4] USPTO, U.S. Trademark Registration No. 1,488,836, available at https://tsdr.uspto.gov/#caseNumber=73663738&caseSearchType=US_APPLICATION&caseType=DEFAULT&searchType=statusSearch.  

[5] Id. at 2.

[6] USPTO, U.S. Trademark Registration No. 2,349,246, available at https://tsdr.uspto.gov/#caseNumber=75354125&caseSearchType=US_APPLICATION&caseType=DEFAULT&searchType=statusSearch.

[7] USPTO, U.S. Trademark Registration No. 2,199,793, available at https://tsdr.uspto.gov/#caseNumber=75353933&caseSearchType=US_APPLICATION&caseType=DEFAULT&searchType=statusSearch.

[8] USPTO, U.S. Trademark Registration No. 2,203,888, available at https://tsdr.uspto.gov/#caseNumber=75354309&caseSearchType=US_APPLICATION&caseType=DEFAULT&searchType=statusSearch.

[9] USPTO, U.S. Trademark Registration No. 1,225,119, available at https://tsdr.uspto.gov/#caseNumber=73269858&caseSearchType=US_APPLICATION&caseType=DEFAULT&searchType=statusSearch.

[10] USPTO, U.S. Trademark Registration No. 2,206,967, available at https://tsdr.uspto.gov/#caseNumber=75353993&caseSearchType=US_APPLICATION&caseType=DEFAULT&searchType=statusSearch.

[11] USPTO, U.S. Trademark Registration No. 3,232,658, available at https://tsdr.uspto.gov/#caseNumber=78745415&caseSearchType=US_APPLICATION&caseType=DEFAULT&searchType=statusSearch.

[12] USPTO, U.S. Trademark Registration No. 3,241,595, available at https://tsdr.uspto.gov/#caseNumber=78784248&caseSearchType=US_APPLICATION&caseType=DEFAULT&searchType=statusSearch.

[13] USPTO, U.S. Trademark Registration No. 7,152,389, available at https://tsdr.uspto.gov/#caseNumber=97363395&caseSearchType=US_APPLICATION&caseType=DEFAULT&searchType=statusSearch.

[14] USPTO, U.S. Trademark Registration No. 7,651,195, available at https://tsdr.uspto.gov/#caseNumber=98434887&caseSearchType=US_APPLICATION&caseType=DEFAULT&searchType=statusSearch.

[15] USPTO, U.S. Trademark Registration No. 2,205,439, available at https://tsdr.uspto.gov/#caseNumber=75353943&caseSearchType=US_APPLICATION&caseType=DEFAULT&searchType=statusSearch.

[16] USPTO, U.S. Trademark Registration No. 2,208,807, available at https://tsdr.uspto.gov/#caseNumber=75368273&caseSearchType=US_APPLICATION&caseType=DEFAULT&searchType=statusSearch.

[17] USPTO, U.S. Trademark Registration No. 3,352,139, available at https://tsdr.uspto.gov/#caseNumber=78822582&caseSearchType=US_APPLICATION&caseType=DEFAULT&searchType=statusSearch.

[18] USPTO, U.S. Trademark Registration No. 6,966,963, available at https://tsdr.uspto.gov/#caseNumber=97039246&caseSearchType=US_APPLICATION&caseType=DEFAULT&searchType=statusSearch.

[19] USPTO, U.S. Trademark Registration No. 6,966,989, available at https://tsdr.uspto.gov/#caseNumber=97053837&caseSearchType=US_APPLICATION&caseType=DEFAULT&searchType=statusSearch.

Justin Powley
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