A federal judge residing in Texas has heard a case that involves the Houston College of Law and has barred the college from using their new name. The judge agreed with the University of Houston Law Center, which asked for a temporary injunction. Their argument? That the new college was infringing on their trademark.
The school in question used to be known as South Texas College of Law. Back in June, they were sued by the University of Houston Law Center, who said that the name would confuse students who were considering attending their school, as well as future employers. They also pointed out that not only did the school change their name, but they also got a new color scheme which matched theirs: red and white.
One of the reasons the judge decided the way he did is because he was able to review evidence of confusion between the schools. One such piece of evidence was a letter that went to the wrong law school. Another was an email sent by the Texas Board of Law Examiners, which ended up at the wrong school.
The judge further said that indeed the logos of both schools were quite similar. He also said that two of the three words in the University of Houston Law Center’s trademark named were found in the other law school’s new name. He found this troubling enough but when paired with the fact that the defendant has seemingly been encouraging the confusion, the judge’s decision was easy.
There’s no question that this is a victory for intellectual property. The offices of Gilbert & Smallman, we’ve handled many intellectual property cases and we know how to protect a client’s trademark or copyright. If you need to apply for either a copyright or a trademark, then your next call should be to our offices.
Would you like to verify that we’re the right intellectual property attorney for your needs? Consider our long list of victories as criminal defense attorneys. Then give us a call for your free case evaluation. We will briefly consider your case and let you know what your options are. This evaluation is 100% free and allows you the chance to find out what our strategies might be and whether or not we’re the right firm to work with.
