COLUMBUS (WCMH)– From California to Texas, to Grove City, Ohio, The Ohio State University is all business when it comes to educating others about its property rights.

Curt Shaver co-founded the Columbus Barrell Company with his brother C. J. Shaver. The two men are officially licensed through OSU. They make and sell products from bourbon barrels. Some of the hot items they have going right now block “O” tree ornaments and bottle openers.

“People will pay anything for weddings, babies, and Ohio State stuff,” jokingly said Curt.”If you put that [Ohio State] logo on anything, on your products, it’s instantly a stamp of approval and you know you have something. If they like it, chances are everyone else will.”

If you are selling something with anything that remotely represents the university, expect a letter from a lawyer.

“I know they take it very seriously and they should,” said Curt. “They worked very hard to build that brand.”

When Ohio State University recently filed for trademark rights to the word “The,” we asked, how often does the school actually pursue intellectual property rights disputes? Well, they are proactive.

The university provided NBC4i.com a 216-page document of letters its lawyers have sent to various people and companies around the country. Each of the letters states that “Ohio State’s” indicia is being used without authorization.

Basically, if you make T-shirts with the Block “O,” colors scarlet & gray together, or anything that would suggest that your product represents Ohio State or want people to purchase it because it looks like it represents Ohio State, you will probably get a letter from the Office of Trademark & Licensing Services.

Most commonly, the letter reads like this:

“It has come to our attention recently that your enterprise, (name of the company), is using the indicia of The Ohio State University (hereinafter “Ohio State”) in the production and sale of unlicensed Ohio State-themed apparel.”

Sure, not everyone is selling clothing. Sometimes transportation companies will squeeze in red lettering with the “O,” or restaurants will have a television with a picture promoting where and when customers can watch the next game. These are all forbidden according to the document provided to NBC4i.com.

“If somebody were to make our same products and put their logo on it and sell them without the approval then that’s taking money out of our pocket,” said Shaver. “We are officially licensed and are doing it the right way.”