If it’s “cultural appropriation” when you use a drawing of a Native American as a school sports logo, what is it called when you knowingly appropriate a logo design from another school?

If you’re Ohio State University, you might call it “copyright infringement.”

The endless saga of the Wakefield Warrior Logo just keeps going and going and going. Every time it appears that this wholly unnecessary affair is finally coming to a merciful conclusion, something happens to drag it out longer.

This time, the snag came from a city 700 miles away: Columbus, Ohio.

On Tuesday of this week, the Wakefield School Committee was scheduled once again to vote on a new logo for Wakefield Memorial High School to replace the image of an Indian Warrior that was acceptable for 75 years until some palefaces decided that it was offensive to Native Americans.

Before the vote, the school administration planned to reveal the results of a student survey to determine their preference for a new logo.

Three choices were offered to the students, and of course the kids picked the one they’re most familiar with: a red “W” with the word “Warriors” emblazoned across it. That’s the logo that the school has been unofficially using since about 2020, when it was decided that the old Indian logo had to go.

The School Committee was all set to ratify the students’ logo choice at Tuesday’s meeting. It was on their agenda.

Except, as usual, there was a problem. The preferred logo design bears an uncanny resemblance to Ohio State University’s logo.

The School Department has been aware of this possible copyright infringement for some time. In fact, last June they sought a legal opinion on the matter. In a memorandum dated June 15, 2022, their own legal counsel advised the high school to go in a different direction.

“Ohio State has a clear copyright and it is almost certain that Wakefield had ‘access’ to Ohio State’s logo prior to the creation of Wakefield’s new logo,” the legal memorandum states.

“Ohio State could possibly claim that Wakefield is infringing on its design of a large, capital letter in the background with a symbol on top of it and words arranged in a curve around it, as well as a similar color scheme,” the attorney continues. “Given the uncertainty and the costs of litigation, it might make more sense for Wakefield to go with a different logo.”

But, once again, the School Department knew better, and they included the Ohio State knockoff logo as one of the choices in the student survey because that’s the logo that the school administration favored as well.

Then, last Friday, days before the scheduled School Committee vote on a new WMHS logo, a letter arrived from Ohio State’s attorneys expressing their concerns about the soon-to-be new Wakefield Warrior logo. They also had a problem with the stripes on the Wakefield High School football team’s pants, which are identical to the stripes on the Ohio State University football uniform.

Ohio State University maintains that Wakefield’s appropriation of their design constitutes “dilution” of OSU’s copyright.

So, school officials decided that they would not be reviewing the student surveys at this week’s School Committee meeting. Nor would the School Committee be voting on a new logo.

Instead, local school officials have once again turned the matter over to their legal counsel.

Maybe this time they’ll listen to their own attorney’s advice.
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[This column originally appeared in the October 13, 2022 Wakefield Daily Item.]