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Washburn University Changes Logo As Part Of Trademark Lawsuit Settlement.

MADISON, September 17, 2009 -- Washburn University has agreed to change its logo after a trademark infringement lawsuit was filed by the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

The Board of Regents for the University of Wisconsin-Madison alleged in their lawsuit that Washburn University infringed its W trademark by using a confusingly similar mark.

Dena Anson, Director of Relations at Washburn, said that the school is currently working on designs for a new logo but a final decision has not been made yet. She added, "We can still use the 'W' that was in question, but we will have to modify it so that our university name, mascot name or mascot symbol is transposed over it."

The Special Assistant to the UW-Madison Chancellor, Casey Nagy, commented that his university strongly believes in protecting their trademark, called "the Motion W," as an iconic symbol of the school. He added: "What we were looking for was retention of our 'MotionW' as a stand-alone icon. If someone else was using something similar, there [should] be other features associated with it that would not confuse the public."

Nagy added: "We went through this corresponence to protect the integrity of the "Motion W' because people expect us to do that, and when they see the 'Motion W,' they expect it to reflect Wisconsin. We certainly did not want to end up in litigation, but sometimes that happens."