A campus attorney has warned YouCSD.com that it may face possible legal challenges from the university for its name. The Web site, which features blog-format coverage of officials, students and campus events, is operated by an anonymous group of university undergraduates.
The site, which contains the letters “UCSD” in its hyperlink, is in violation of California’s education code, which reserves the “University of California” name as the property of the state, campus counsel Ann Parode said. According to the regulation, the name may not be used without the permission of the UC Board of Regents.
It has also used a picture of Geisel Library on its banner, in violation of the university’s trademark for the library’s image, Parode said.
Though the site’s creators agreed to remove the photo on Oct. 5 after talks with the university, they said they were disappointed with the state’s copyright laws and the “bizarre extent to which they can be manipulated.”
“It seems pretty ridiculous that they can exert such control over a photograph of a public building that we took ourselves,” the site’s creators said in an anonymous e-mail statement.
The university has yet to identify the students because they used false names and a German Internet service provider, which may not be obligated to disclose any information about the site’s administrators, said UCSD’s Director of Network Operations Anthony Wood.
The student operators stated they would continue to maintain their anonymity even if faced with formal legal charges.
Though their names are unknown, Parode said she is currently communicating with the students via e-mail.
“As long as they comply I don’t care [who they are],” she said.
Parode is not currently taking action against other Internet sites that use the university’s acronym, such as MeetUCSD.com, which is advertised on the Guardian Web site. The Guardian hyperlink also includes the university’s acronym. The decision to pursue YouCSD.com, Parode said, was not made because of its content but because of specific complaints about the page made to her office.
In their statement, the site’s creators called the warning an intimidation tactic aimed at filtering undesirable subject matter.
“This threat from the university has no merit,” they stated. “From the beginning we expected campus administration to try and use such strong-arm tactics to censor us.”
In past months, the Web site has featured articles critical of UCSD students and Chancellor Marye Anne Fox.
Because she is confident that the site’s creators will cooperate with a request to change the name, Parode said no official legal charges have yet been filed.
After informal talks with the university, the site’s creators included a disclaimer stating that the site has no affiliation with UCSD, but they stated that they plan to keep their name despite Parode’s request to change it.
“The name of our outlet is not intended to mimic or confuse the name of this university but rather highlights our commitment to our audience and peers amongst the student body,” they stated. “We deliberately refrained from using ‘UCSD’ or ‘UC’ in our name because we were already aware of the school’s prior attempts to defend their trademarks.”
Patent lawyer and copyright law expert Andy Greenberg said that because legal precedent exists for the arguments made by both sides, determining which party is legally correct depends on the specific content of the Web site.
However, he said the name of the site would likely not cause confusion with that of the university, especially with the presence of a disclaimer.
“It’s really very hard to argue that there is confusion with the affiliation,” Greenberg said.
As for the use of the image of Geisel Library, case law involving pictures of Hearst Castle has established that “there is no copyright in the shape of a building,” according to Greenberg.
While the university may make several legal arguments, its warning over the use of the picture seems to be “an unusual extension of intellectual property law,” he said.
If the students do not comply with warnings to “cease and desist,” they may face misdemeanor criminal charges and be subject to university disciplinary processes, according to Director of Student Policies and Judicial Affairs Nicholas S. Aguilar.
“It is easy for a large institution like UCSD to draw from vast resources and strangle any voice it dislikes,” the site’s creators stated. “[The university] as a whole, armed with experienced lawyers like Ann Parode, can twist copyright law to do anything it wants.”
Though they lack financial resources to hire a lawyer, the students stated they have contacted the American Civil Liberties Union for advice and possible legal aid.
