What could an economics professor from the University of Houston and the mascot of the UW-Madison sports teams have in common?  Well, not a whole lot, except for the use of the name Bucky.  Ed Hirs is the professor in question and he claims that he’s being badgered by the UW’s retail licensing partner over the use of his coined economic terms, buckynomics and buckymarkets for which he has applied for licensing trademarks.  Ed joins the 8 O’Clock Buzz to explain that his use of “bucky” comes from his analogy of the inter-dependence of energy markets to the molecular shape of Buckminsterfullerenes which are carbon allotropes with a spherical shape somewhat similar to a geodesic dome invented by the architect Buckminster Fuller.  If you squint very hard the molecules have a football shaped appearance that may make for interesting legal discussion in the dispute.

Image by OpenIcons from Pixabay

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