Duking it out

I found this story very interesting: there’s a big legal flapdoodle between Duke University and John Wayne Enterprises over the latter producing a brand of whiskey they’re calling Duke Bourbon.

Duke the university objects to Duke the heirs of the Duke John Wayne using Duke the word on Duke the liquor in any context that could somehow be perceived by Duke the university's donors as a blot upon the escutcheon of an academic institution of wide regard and even wider endowments. They’re bitching (if I understand correctly) about the image of the disputed word, claiming that the font that’s being used can be confused with their own iconic logo, and maybe reduce alumni support. 

(Okay, that bit about cutting into support is an extrapolation. But it's based on an understanding of the priorities of all the universities I've ever been associated with; academics are often secondary to fundraising.)

Well, I’m not, um, seeing that. Here’s the booze:

And here are the search results for “Duke University logo”:

It’s unclear to me under what conditions you might mistake any one of those iterations in Duke blue with the design on the whiskey bottle. But if you do, you should probably take a taxi home.

And Duke the university should just get over itself.