by Caleb Fort
Daily Lobo
UNM filed a federal lawsuit June 23 against Santa Fe-based company GeekUNM, alleging trademark violations.
Patrick Apodaca, a University attorney, said the name UNM is an important part of the school's identity.
"This is a very important asset for the University," he said. "It is a name that is associated publicly with the University and its reputation."
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The company offers classes about computer programs such as Adobe Photoshop and Microsoft Office. The company's Web site lists Geek U, GeekUNM and Geek University at New Mexico as trademarks. The site also says the company is "absolutely, positively not associated with UNM or their athletic department."
UNM wants the company to change its name and logos so they cannot be confused with the University's, according to the lawsuit.
The company is supposed to allow the destruction of "all course materials, bags, boxes, labels, tags, signs, packages, receptacles, advertising, sample books, promotional material, stationery or other materials" that infringe on UNM's trademarks, according to the suit.
Dennis Trambley, the chief information officer for the company, said such a change is unlikely.
"We're not going to change our name until they pry my cold, dead fingers from my notebook," he said.
UNM holds trademarks for several logos that include the words "University of New Mexico," according to the complaint.
Trambley said the company does not infringe on those trademarks, because "university" and "New Mexico" are part of the public domain.
The company's response to the suit was due July 26. However, UNM agreed to a 14-day extension, Trambley said.
The company was originally called Geek University, he said. However, franchises are opening in Las Vegas and Denver, so the name of the New Mexico location was changed to Geek University of New Mexico in order to distinguish it, he said.
No other states have had problems with the company's name, Trambley said.
UNM sent a cease and desist letter to the company in April.
Trambley said he agreed to put a disclaimer on the Web site and change the name to Geek University at New Mexico.
The complaint calls those changes "cosmetic at best."
Trambley said he is offended by the lawsuit.
"They kind of pissed me off to where I said, 'OK, we're not going to do anything,'" he said. "I'll even change the name to Geek University at Northern Mongolia. It will still be GeekUNM, but nobody can say you'd confuse the two."
Apodaca said people could become confused and think the classes offered by the company are endorsed by UNM.
"If somebody in Santa Fe sees the name GeekUNM and sees that there are computer classes being given by GeekUNM, they might think it's the University of New Mexico," he said. "We have a very strong interest in protecting the association of the name with this institution."
Trambley said there should be no confusion.
"The logo is the head of a geek. It's a guy wearing big glasses," he said. "It looks nothing like the various logos that UNM uses."
The abbreviation UNM has been associated with the University almost since the institution's beginning, according to the complaint. The complaint includes copies of several old documents that have the phrase UNM, such as photographs of sports teams and graduating classes.
One document bearing the abbreviation is a graduation program from 1902.
