Harvard University hopes that notHarvard.com will not be notHarvard.com for long.
The school has countersued notHarvard.com, a Web education technology startup, and is asking a court in Boston to stop the company from using the school's trademark in its domain name.
"We believe that the Harvard name belongs to Harvard and we're taking appropriate steps to make sure it stays that way," said Joe Wrinn, a Harvard University spokesperson.
A spokeswoman for notHarvard would not comment on the countersuit except to say that the company is aware that it has been filed.
In March of 2000, the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office rejected the company's trademark registration application for notHarvard.com.
The USPTO determined that notHarvard.com is too similar to Harvard, and the overlap of services proffered by the two entities is too great.
"The similarity of the marks and relatedness of the services is so great as to create a likelihood of confusion among consumers, therefore, registration must be refused pursuant to Section 2(d) of the Trademark Act," wrote a USPTO examining attorney in March.
Although the company has not appealed the denial of their application, notHarvard last week sued Harvard in Texas. The company asked the judge to declare its domain name and trademarks valid and protectable.
When Wired News reported about notHarvard's suit earlier this week, the domains notharvard.net and notharvard.org were not registered. They have since been registered, though a whois search did not determine the identity of the registrant.
Wrinn said that domain names with "Harvard" in them are not rare.
"A recent search showed that there are over 1,400 domain names that use 'Harvard' in them," Wrinn said. "We get most concerned with the sites that involve education and research."
The university is in the slow process of sorting out which domains to address with legal action, Wrinn said, adding the many are resolved with a simple cease-and-desist letter.
