First strike in the battle for Houston.
We’ve been closely following #HoustonvHouston, which began after the South Texas College of Law announced a name change to, wait for it… Houston College of Law. As one might imagine, the University of Houston Law Center was pretty irritated with another law school less than 4 miles away changing its name to something so similar, oh, and did we mention STCL also changed the colors of the school? Yeah, both law school’s websites and logos are now bedecked in red.
So the University of Houston Law Center did what any self-respecting lawyer would do: filed a lawsuit. (The full complaint is available on the next page.)
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In a statement announcing the lawsuit, the chairman of the University of Houston System noted the move was designed to protect the reputation the school has built for itself.
“This is about protecting our reputation and our business,” said Tilman Fertitta, chairman of the UH System Board of Regents. “We’ve earned our standing as a nationally ranked law center, and we won’t allow someone else to change their name and colors and market themselves on our success.”
As we’ve noted, there is quite a difference in rankings between the two. The University of Houston Law Center is ranked 50 by U.S. News and World Report, while the artist formerly known as South Texas College of Law is unranked.
The lawsuit focuses quite a bit on the color change and branding similarities, as well as on the logical nickname for both schools being “Houston Law.” And the University of Houston Law Center wishes to make clear there is a world of difference between the two schools:
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The lawsuit states an STCL name change to ‘Houston College of Law’ will result in confusion among the market of law students, potential law students, lawyers and consumers of legal services. Such rebranding results in the belief that there is some affiliation between the two schools, that UH approves of STCL legal education services, or that UH and STCL are one in the same entity. The suit seeks relief from the court that prevents STCL’s use of its proposed name.
As a reminder for our readers, these are screencaps of the two schools’ websites:
You are free to draw your own conclusions from that, as well as from the host of visuals in the complaint itself. In the meantime, we can enjoy the legal battle that’s about to ensue.