When you start suing another school over an alphabet then there is really something wrong with the situation. The University of Wisconsin-Madison (UW) has filed a trademark infringement lawsuit against a small college in Kansas, Washburn University, for using the logo “W” in its athletic merchandises.

Washburn’s blue “W” logo is alleged to be confusingly similar to Wisconsin’s red “Motion W” logo used by the Badgers since 1990.

While some people find it absurd and a bit weird to fight over an alphabet, UW is dead serious about this case. Moreover, the university is seeking payment for punitive damages and compensation for profits earned by that school logo.

According to Wisconsin State Journal:

UW-Madison’s logo, the lawsuit states, is used on dozens of licensed products, such as clothing, glassware and souvenirs. Washburn’s W is used the same way. That’s a problem, the lawsuit states, in that purchasers seeing Washburn ’s unlicensed products and “perceiving a defect, lack of quality or any impropriety are likely to mistakenly attribute them to Wisconsin, ” causing irreparable harm “to Wisconsin ’s goodwill. “

Despite several disputes with other “W” logos, this is the first time UW will take another school to court. According to the lawsuit, UW has been communicating with Washburn for the past six years and has requested them stop using the Motion W logo. While Washburn assured UW that it will stop using this famous logo, they further expanded its usage.

In case you’re planning to use one of the alphabets as your official logo, you may want to reconsider that decision, Instead, your should use a more creative logo design so you need not face any trademark infringement complaint.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, December 5th, 2007 at 8:37 am and is filed under Logo Design News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.