Texas abandons its efforts to trademark ‘Havoc’ slogan
They’ve printed the phrase “Havoc Lives Here” everywhere at VCU the last five years, from billboards, to T-shirts, to giant banners in the student section.
The slogan still rings true even though the coach who coined it left for Texas a month ago.
Texas has withdrawn its attempt to federally register variations of the “Havoc” trademark, the Richmond Times-Dispatch reported Monday. The same day Smart was hired as the next coach of the Longhorns last month, Texas officials applied to register the marks “HORNS HAVOC” and “HOUSE OF HAVOC” with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.
Retaining the “Havoc” slogan is momentous for VCU because it is central to the program’s marketing and branding efforts.
The Rams’ style of play has been known as “Havoc” since Smart used the phrase while describing his vision for the aggressive, swarming full-court press he intended to install. That slogan gained greater significance as VCU rose to national prominence, making a stunning Final Four run in 2011 and advancing to four more NCAA tournaments the past four years.
VCU has already trademarked “Havoc” with the State Corporation Commission of Virginia, which would have given the Rams a good chance to win a legal battle had Texas opted to go that route. The strongest argument the Longhorns could have made was that their variations on “Havoc” were sufficiently different not to be confusing.
It’s especially important to VCU to still be known as the home of “Havoc” because the coach hired by the Rams will continue to use that defensive model. Will Wade is a former assistant under Smart who had the wisdom to rename his style of play “Chaos” when he left to coach Tennessee-Chattanooga the previous two years.
Ultimately, it makes sense for Texas to back off not only because of the likelihood it would lose a legal battle but also because the Longhorns may not even adopt the “Havoc” model under Smart.
He has said Texas will play fast and aggressively, but he has also said he won’t necessarily press from start to finish the way he often did at VCU.
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Jeff Eisenberg is the editor of The Dagger on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at [email protected] or follow him on Twitter!
