Colleges may want to use their school colors to generate additional revenue now that a federal appeals court has upheld a lower court’s decision that the unlicensed use of a college’s colors violates trademark law.

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit, in New Orleans, considered a case brought against the Smack Apparel Company, of Tampa, Fla., by four institutions — Louisiana State University at Baton Rouge, Ohio State University, and the Universities of Oklahoma and of Southern California — along with the Collegiate Licensing Company. The court ruled last week that Smack’s use of those universities’ colors on its T-shirts could mislead consumers into thinking that the apparel was from the universities.

For example, a T-shirt design in Southern Cal’s trademark red and yellow that did not include the university’s name but referenced its national football championships and included the words “SoCal” in a star design was found to be “confusing” to consumers.

The full text of the decision can be found here. —David Shieh