Frequent readers of this site will remember the kerfuffle resulting from the South Texas College of Law’s renaming to the Houston College of Law over the summer.   To protect the brand of the University of Houston Law Center, the University of Houston filed a trademark infringement suit against South Texas and received a TRO requiring South Texas to stop using the name Houston College of Law.  Ultimately the two schools came up with a deal that appeared to resolve the situation.  Go here and here for prior Indisputably coverage.

According to this story in the Houston Chronicle, the deal fell apart last Wednesday and now the Houston Community College has joined the fray.  From the story:

On June 22, the same day South Texas announced it would be called Houston College of Law, UH filed another application with the federal trademark office for the rights to “Houston” on educational materials and services. That application includes the use on course catalogs and college courses in business, accounting, engineering, science, literature, history and math.

In its counterclaim, filed in July, South Texas asked that UH cancel its claim on the athletic use. And now South Texas has asked that the educational application for “Houston” be withdrawn. Both of those matters remain unresolved.

If UH alters its stance, South Texas lawyers have indicated to the judge they would withdraw their application for the “Houston College of Law” trademark, but not until the entire matter is resolved. UH wants South Texas to pull its application first. South Texas wants UH to go first.

In the meantime, Houston Community College submitted a trademark application in December for the slogans “Houston’s Community College” and “We are Houston’s Community College.”

Crazy times for our friends in Texas.

Hat tip, TaxProf Blog