Use of University and College Names on Website

[Kudduz]

Hello,

I run a website that targets college-bound High School seniors and helps them connect with other students that will be attending the same university/college. Students join the site by selecting the school they plan to attend in order to find other members based on the school they are going to.

We are a for-profit website.

My question is, is it illegal for us to use University and College names as an identifier for students to meet other students going to the same school? Again, the only use is for students to find each other based on the school they will be attending.

Thanks

 

[Michael Wechsler]

I don't see how using the school's name on your website in such a fashion is a problem. Is there a reason why you'd think so? Are you thinking about metadata lawsuits?

 

[Kudduz]

The reason I'm asking is because we've had a college in Georgia request that their university be removed from our site. The problem is we have over 1,000 schools listed and if this is a real legal issue we need to be concerned about I want to find out now so we can change our approach. It seems like our use of the university names is pretty common, but I'm not sure.

I mean we can take Facebook as an example, they have "networks" for virtually every high school and college and it doesn't seen to be an issue for Facebook.

 

[Michael Wechsler]

I do not see how any school can demand that their name be removed from a list of schools where members attend class. It's a public fact. They may not like your site and don't want their students associating with it so they will make a request hoping you'll comply. If you're just using it in the manner you state and in no other way, I doubt that there is any law or legal precedent that would allow them to have a court order you to remove it from the list of university names that you have.

They would never make such a request of Facebook because (a) they have plenty of legal power that can tell them whether or not this is just huffing and puffing, and (b) they want to appear on Facebook - not appearing on Facebook would be detrimental and question their "legitimacy." My guess is you fall to the opposite side in both areas. I can't tell you for sure without knowing all the facts but the above is my gut feeling.

 

[nate180co]

I found this interesting. I have a follow-up question. I myself am in a similar situation in that I'm creating a website for college and pro sports. The website, like the thousands of other sports websites, simply is a site that will post score updates, news feeds, schedules, etc. There will be absolutely no blogging on the website. This website will not charge the user for use. I just want to create one to call my own. Would I be allowed to use the logos and names of the teams just for posting these types of updates? I don't see how using them would misrepresent the entity by providing all the team names.