Cisco Systems has been slapped with a federal lawsuit by East Carolina University for allegedly using its registered trademark slogan "Tomorrow Starts Here" in an advertising campaign.
Seeking injunctive relief and damages for the unauthorized use of its trademark, the Greenville, N.C.-based University said it had sued the company in a federal court on charges of trademark infringement, although did not specify which court.
"ECU has used the mark 'Tomorrow Starts Here' for over a decade, including in national advertisements and publications such as Forbes and Wired," Chancellor Steve Ballard said in a statement. "We feel it is essential to take action to protect that defining trademark of our identity and vision."
The slogan was the center of Cisco's recently released $100 million marketing campaign on which the company pins its hopes of a much-wanted new beginning after a series of layoffs and other restructuring efforts last year to bring the company back on the growth track.
Giving further details of the infringement charges , the press release announcing the lawsuit said:
"ECU's trademark "Tomorrow Starts Here" is a university-wide brand that represents an overlapping field of goods and services when compared with that of Cisco. For example, research initiatives through ECU's College of Technology and Computer Science have created products and intellectual property that are actively being commercialized. ECU is also a leader in the field of distance education technology that is heavily promoted through ECU's global online education program using the mark "Tomorrow Starts Here."
Reacting to the lawsuit, a Cisco spokeswoman said the University's claim came as a surprise to the company. In an email interaction with Reuters, Cisco's spokeswomen said the company is very serious about the intellectual property rights. She said the company is quite confident about its new campaign and that it believes the tagline does not create any confusion in the market place.
"The human network" was Cisco's previous slogan.
Take a look at Cisco's new advertisement campaign below (Courtesy: Cisco's Youtube Channel).
