Court Fight Gets Good

See you in court! Houston College of Law replies to UH about name change lawsuit

What's in a name?

Courtesy photo

The battle just got more heated.

After the University of Houston filed a trademark infringement lawsuit in U.S. District Court Monday, seeking to bar South Texas College of Law from changing its name to Houston College of Law, officials at the downtown law school said they won't back down.

“Houston College of Law teaches its students to represent their clients’ interests aggressively while maintaining strong ethical and professional standards,” J. Ken Johnson, chairman of the Houston College of Law board of directors, said in a statement. “We will do the same in this litigation.”

UH has hired heavyweight trial lawyer and Tony Buzbee as lead counsel. The suit alleges that the name change and its adoption of the UH red and white scheme in its logo constitutes “intentional and willful infringement of UH’s intellectual property and unfair competition,” which results in “confusion in the marketplace and damage” to the university and its brand.

But Houston College of Law officials say they did not adopt new colors or alter the school's website, other than to add the new logo. The use of crimson as a primary color dates back to the 1960s, they maintain.

“Houston College of Law is making this name change to avoid confusion,” Johnson said. “In fact, creating market confusion would be in direct conflict with the mission of our 93-year-old, private, independent law school. For many years we’ve dealt with misunderstanding surrounding ‘South Texas,’ which is not descriptive of our historic location in downtown Houston.”

Furthermore, "the city’s name does not belong to the University of Houston; nor does Houston College of Law intend to market its services in any fashion that suggests affiliation with the University of Houston Law Center," officials said in a press release.

"The board of directors and administrators of Houston College of Law were disappointed that the University of Houston Law Center chose to pursue litigation regarding the law school’s new name. However, Houston College of Law maintains its stance that it is on firm legal ground and is prepared to defend that position in court."

We're betting we haven't heard the end of this.

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Thanks, Queen Bey

Pop icon Beyoncé donates $100,000 to University of Houston Law School

Photo by Erza Shaw Getty Images

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Pop megastar Beyoncé Knowles-Carter has donated $100,000 to the University of Houston Law Center Criminal Justice Clinic through her BeyGOOD Foundation. The gift will allow the clinic to hire fill-time faculty to head it, benefiting the students who study there.

“I am delighted that the BeyGOOD Foundation has made this very generous gift to the UH Law Center,” said Leonard Baynes, dean of the UH Law Center. “Not only will this funding help establish a full-time criminal justice clinic that provides pro bono legal services in our community, but it will also supercharge our already excellent criminal law and justice programming.”

The clinic is one of nine at UHLC. It helps students learn to navigate the criminal justice system, especially on behalf of clients that are underserved by skilled attorneys. People of color are affected disproportionately by a lack of good, ethical representation.

Beyoncé, the most decorated artist in Grammy history and easily the biggest musical star native to Houston, has a long history of advocating for criminal justice reform. She was a staunch supporter of the police reform following the deaths of Alton Sterling and Philando Castile, asking law enforcement to “stop killing us” in a web post. In 2020, she penned an open letter to the Kentucky attorney general asking for justice in the death of Breonna Taylor.

Through her BeyGOOD Foundation, established in 2013, Beyoncé has focused mostly on expanding the prospects of Black-owned business and offering education opportunities to students. Forwarding the cause of legal representation in Texas while also helping out marginalized communities compliments her other philanthropic work.

“At UH Law, we envision a legal profession where ‘everyone has the opportunity to prosper,’ as BeyGOOD envisions, and we will achieve this vision by providing access to strong and effective legal representation in criminal proceedings,” Baynes said. “And together, through this gift, the BeyGOOD Foundation and UHLC will shepherd the next generation of criminal justice attorneys in the city of Houston, the state of Texas and the nation.”