Harvard Wins Name Dispute in S. Korea

Following two contrary rulings in lower courts, a South Korean Supreme Court decision yesterday banned a publishing company from using Harvard's name without its permission.

"[The University] is concerned with the unauthorized use of the Harvard name, especially in relation to educational manners, and is happy with the Court's decision," said Rick Calixto, the Harvard University Trademark Program (HUTP) administrator.

Last year, Harvard filed a suit against Itempool Media, a book publishing company in South Korea, after they published a series of study-aid publications under the name "Harvard Reader."

Itempool possessed a registered trademark for each of the five Harvard Reader series, four under Korean service class 52, and one under Korean service class 112, which covers educational services.

The Korean International Property Office (KIPO) initially revoked Itempool's class 112 trademark. However, the KIPO decision was nullified in an Itempool appeal to a higher patent court in March, and the "Harvard Reader" trademark was revalidated in Itempool's favor--until yesterday.

"The question was whether the name Harvard is prominent enough to prevent us from granting patent rights to the plaintiff," Kim Yong-sup, a judge and spokesperson for the Supreme Court, told the Associated Press yesterday. "The court decision is yes."

While the Supreme Court decision revoked one trademark, the fate of the four other trademarks related to the "Harvard Reader" has yet to be determined. Those four trademarks, all belonging to Korean service class 52, have been revoked by the KIPO, but Calixto said Itempool may still appeal the revocation.

"[We] are confident that if Itempool decides to appeal the KIPO ruling, the Supreme Court decision [today] sets the precedent for future ones," Calixto said.

Calixto said HUTP vigorously defends against any trademark infringements on the Harvard name, particularly in an educational context.

In October, the University settled a trademark lawsuit against notHarvard.com, now Powered.com, ending months of litigation between the two sides over the Harvard name.

According to Calixto, notHarvard.com, which is an online educational site, "seemed to imply connections with the University that did not exist."

Under Calixto's watch, the University is trying to monitor similar misuses of the Harvard name worldwide.

Calixto is leading a project to register the Harvard trademark in every country, and HUTP has hired a company to track trademark offices in the world to watch for abuses of Harvard's name.

"Being pro-active is important so that we can keep third parties from taking advantage of [the University's] name," Calixto said.