Syracuse University has threatened legal action against at least two Web sites since the beginning of February, alleging that they are infringing on its trademarks.

The creators of the sites – ratemySUclass.com and cuseweb.com – received cease and desist letters from the Bond, Scheoeneck and King law firm, which represents the university. No civil action, however, has yet been filed, with the Onondaga County Civil Court against the creators, according to the court clerk’s records.

‘I honestly am not sure if the trademark is really the issue,’ said Adam Peruta, the creator of ratemySUclass.com and SU adjunct professor and graduate student. ‘I think that it’s more of an issue that the university doesn’t like the site, they don’t support the site, they don’t want to support the site. I’m venturing to say that the trademark is really the only thing that they can get me on legally, so that’s kind of the approach that they’re taking.’

Michael Hagan, the owner of Cuseweb.com, was also skeptical of the university’s position.

‘We’ve also denied their claims against copyright infringement, so we responded with a letter,’ Hagan said. ‘We don’t believe they have a case, but we’re still waiting to hear back from them.’

RatemySUclass.com was created in September of 2003 by Peruta, a graduate of the S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications, and two other Newhouse students to give the SU community access to class ratings.

Hagan’s Cuseweb.com is also intended to be a resource for students, he said.

‘The site is there for the students of Syracuse University, and mere similarities do not constitute infringement,’ Hagan said. ‘Although the trademark and our site name are comparable, it does not constitute copyright infringement.’

University officials declined to comment on the issue, referring all questions to Robert Sinnema, the lawyer handling the case for SU. Due to confidentiality agreements, he would not comment directly on the case but agreed to answer questions about trademark law in general.

‘The general rule is that if a consumer, seeing the two different marks, could be confused into believing they come from the same place, (it could be copyright infringement),’ Sinnema said. ‘They don’t have to be identical, they just have to be close enough to cause a likelihood of confusion.’

Trademarks arise upon use, and do not have to be registered to receive legal protection, but registration affords more privilege under the law, Sinnema said.

SU has registered ‘SU’ and ”Cuse’ with the Federal Patent and Trademark Office, according to the university Web site.

‘The bottom line is that, for the most part, a trademark owner does not have to go against every single instance of trademark infringement it identifies,’ Sinnema said. ‘But there can be repercussions if a trademark owner allows a lot of people to use the trademark without taking action. It is a losing defense for a trademark infringement defendant to come into court and say, ‘But judge, they let someone else use the mark, therefore I can use the mark too.”

But Peruta said that his research and consultation with legal experts has led him to believe that he has a stronger defense.

‘It’s true they do have a trademark on SU,’ Peruta said. ‘Yes, I am using the trademark, but based on legal advice that I’ve gotten from numerous lawyers, they say that this falls under a category called nominative fair use, where you are allowed to legally use somebody else’s trademark in describing your own services and products.’

The defense can be used when the defendant is making a legitimate comment on something which can not be referenced without use of the trademark, and the defendant only uses the mark as much as is necessary for the discussion, Sinnema said.

The content of the sites have, though, stirred controversy.

RatemySUclass.com received negative attention last month when derogatory comments were posted in a greek life forum, and some professors disliked the class and teacher ratings.

‘The site was really meant to be a resource for students because the course evaluations that the students fill out at the end of the semester aren’t made public,’ Peruta said. ‘Why not have a Web site or a way to present this info in an anonymous fashion?’

Peruta said they planned to create other resources, such as a service for students to buy and sell books, post classified ads, list apartments and add messages to open forums.

‘I do know that a lot of students have told that when it was registration time, they used it as one of their main resources,’ Peruta said.

Hagan and a group of friends, who do not attend SU, created his site earlier this academic year. It offers a book exchange, photo gallery and message boards for students use.

Hagan said he is waiting to discuss the matter further with the university, but Peruta said he would definitely go to court if a claim is filed.

‘We’re planning to fight this, and if it does come down to it – where it does need to go to litigation – I plan on bringing this out as far as I can, calling the TV stations, newspapers, CNN if I have to,’ Peruta said. ‘How many other cases have you heard where the university is trying to sue one of its own students?’

Published on September 20, 2004 at 12:00 pm