(CNN) The Ohio State University is attempting to trademark the word "the," according to an application with the US Patent and Trademark Office.

Application No. 88571984 was filed Thursday, and the school seeks to use the word "the" mainly on t-shirts, baseball caps and hats.

The application was discovered by Josh Gerben, a trademark lawyer.

"This application has issues out of the gate," Gerben said in a video posted to Twitter. "In order for a trademark to be registered for a brand of clothing, the trademark must be used in a trademark fashion. In other words, it has to be used on tagging or labeling for the products. In this case, just putting the word 'the' on the front of a hat or on the front of a shirt is not sufficient trademark use."

The Ohio State University has filed a trademark application on the word "THE."



The filing, made on August 8th, indicates #OhioState is offering a brand of "THE" clothing.



Not sure how 'The U' will feel about this one.



My analysis 👇:#BuckeyeNation #MiamiHurricanes pic.twitter.com/1UvLOAOnIc — Josh Gerben (@JoshGerben) August 13, 2019

Gerben says he expects that the initial application will be refused by the US Patent and Trademark Office, but the school has a chance to fix it and get it right.

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