UA's charges against Gentle Ben's are inappropriate and ill-conceived

I could hardly believe what I read in the Tuesday issue of the Wildcat, with the story concerning Gentle Ben's and the trademark battle with the UA ("Gentle Ben's and UA battle over trademark"). What I got from the article was that the shirts said "U of Ale," not U of A, or anything like that. I can't believe that the UA believes that the shirts were playing off of the University of Arizona trademark. Why don't we alert the Universities of Alabama, Arkansas and Alaska that their trademark is also being used, since they all are U of A.

I just can't see why our university is taking up such a fight over these T-shirts.

Another thing that upset me was that the UA administration has such a lack of respect for school spirit. I'm sure the owner of Gentle Ben's had the intent of joining the rest of Tucson, supporting our '97 NCAA championship basketball team in their quest for the title. I didn't hear about the UA pressing charges against all the other merchants that sported UA merchandise during the tournament and flew banners to cheer on our Cats. During the Final Four game against North Carolina, the employees of Albertson's on Campbell were all wearing Final Four shirts, and the store had the game broadcast over the store radio.

According to the UA's argument with Gentle Ben's, they should be filing suit against Albertson's, and all the other businesses in town that cared enough about our team to support them. I just find it insulting that the UA is filing charges against anyone for supporting UA programs.

By Patrick Walters (letter)
Arizona Daily Wildcat
April 18, 1997