UH sues renamed school of law
It alleges institution is taking advantage of university’s success
The University of Houston is suing the former South Texas College of Law, contending the 90-year-old downtown Houston law school changed its name in an effort to ride UH’s “substantial reputational coattails.”
The federal court suit filed Monday says that the newly renamed Houston College of Law has “willfully” infringed upon UH’s intellectual property and is “attempting to associate itself with the standing and reputation” of UH.
“This is about protecting our reputation and our business,” Tilman Fertitta, chairman of the UH board of regents, said in the statement. “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.”
It is the latest turf war between UH and another college. UH leaders say they are seeking to protect the school’s brand, which they have worked hard to bolster in recent years in an effort to propel UH to the nation’s top tier of research schools. In another fight, UH leaders also have loudly decried the University of Texas’ plans to expand in Houston, calling the effort an “invasion.”
South Texas College of Law leaders last week announced that the school would change its name to Houston College of Law to “increase our regional and national profile” and to more closely associate the school with its longtime home in downtown Houston. Officials at the law school on Monday declined to comment on the lawsuit, but last week said in a statement that they believe they are on firm legal ground in changing the name of the school.
“We made the decision to change the name of the 93-yearold law school based on overwhelming support to tie our institution with its birthplace in downtown Houston,” the law school’s board of directors said in the statement. “We believe that we are on firm legal ground with this name change, and that we are acting in the best interest of the law school and its students.”
But UH says the college is trying to more closely associate itself with the city’s rising public research university. Along with the name change, the college of law also adopted a new symbol, a white image of the scales of law against a red backdrop. UH contends the school also was stealing its color scheme and that the name change could create confusion in the marketplace.
“According to STCL, four
years ago it began investigating a name change as a way to increase recognition,” the lawsuit says. “Apparently, that investigation concluded that changing its name from South Texas College of law to the confusingly similar Houston College of Law and changing its color scheme to a confusingly similar red and white would increase its profile and recognition among the relevant market.”
The lawsuit points out that the former South Texas College of Law did not make U.S. News & World Report’s 2016 rankings, a popular list of the nation’s best schools. The UH Law Center landed at No. 50.
“In fact, STCL has struggled since its inception to shed its image as a ‘night school,’ ” the lawsuit says, pointing out that in the late 1990s, South Texas unsuccessfully attempted to merge with Texas A&M University. The Texas Higher Education Coordinating board rejected the attempted merger.
“The University of Houston Law Center’s brand is associated nationwide with top-notch faculty and lawyers,” said Tony Buzbee, a Houston attorney who is representing UH in the legal battle, in a statement. “UH didn’t take shortcuts to achieve this recognition. We believe the attempted renaming of South Texas College of Law is nothing more than an improper shortcut to take advantage of the success UH has achieved.”
Among other things, UH is asking that the former South Texas College of Law turn over all the money it makes after the name change to UH.
The name change also has irked some South Texas College of Law students and alumni, who have voiced their frustration on social media and in an online petition calling on the college to reverse course.
“Since when does my Facebook account link to the University of Houston’s law school,” one person commented on the Houston College of Law’s Facebook page. “Oh wait, that’s my school, South Texas College of Law. My bad.”