Supreme Court stays out of battle between Southern Cal, South Carolina over usage of ‘SC’

Court won’t get into battle between 2 USCs

WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court won’t decide who really owns the initials “SC” when it comes to college sports: the University of Southern California or the University of South Carolina.

The high court on Monday refused to hear an appeal from South Carolina, which wanted to trademark a baseball cap logo with the initials “SC.”

The Trojans already have a trademark on a version of “SC” and say the Gamecocks’ symbol looks too much like theirs. The California school says it has sold tens of millions of dollars of apparel with “SC” on it, while South Carolina only wanted to start using those initials on baseball caps in 1997.

Courts have rejected South Carolina’s trademark.

The case is University of South Carolina v. University of Southern California, 09-1270.