PSU has a long way to go in order to register that trademark. Seems like the most obvious hurdle to Penn State in claiming that trademark is that the term "Happy Valley" describes the vicinity within which PSU is located, rather than PSU itself. Is that not correct? Geographic names (e.g., "State College Liquors") and descriptive names (e.g., "Blue and White Liquors") are harder to trademark than wholly unique names (e.g., "Xerox").
I would also guess that several different parties might file an Opposition to PSU's trademark application, claiming rights of their own in that name. This is not my area of the law, but I DO know that trademark rights arise primarily from prior use in commerce, not registration. So, even if PSU was able to procure federal trademark registration of the name "Happy Valley," other businesses or municipalities who have already been using the name may well be unaffected by PSU's registration of that trademark.
The other aspect of this is how broad PSU's claim of trademark rights will be. That would be indicated in its trademark application. They would surely claim the trademark for operation of a university, and for sports and sports merchandising purposes, but if the operator of a hotel or restaurant in State College (or elsewhere) wanted to use "Happy Valley" as part of its business name, it would probably be difficult for PSU to stop them, even if they got a registration. The issue there is generally whether the use of that name in an unrelated business does or does not give rise to "a likelihood of confusion" among customers as to who is operating the business in question.
Perhaps there is a trademark lawyer on this Board who might be able to chime in.
