Arizona State University announced that they will be taking legal action against a porn site for using the term "Sun Devils," which is the name of the school's athletic teams.
SunDevilAngels.com, a porn site came under fire when the Arizona State University accused them of stealing the trademark of their athletic teams "Sun Devils." According to the University, the illegal use of name is a "trademark infringement."
ASU officials said that legal action is not a lawsuit, but merely an arbitration filing, where both parties can sit down and find a solution to the problem. ASU is hopeful that the website would change its domain name, or ASU would have to take severe action to have the website shut down completely.
The creator of SunDevilAngels.com Raymond Coates is however willing to fight the university in any legal battle claiming that they have been using "Sun Devils" from 2004 and haven't had an issue with the University until lately. Moreover, the website claims that it would cost them $50,000 to change its domain name.
The porn site also clarifies that it doesn't use logos, colors, students or any other ASU affiliations. However, the university claims that the porn site's logo is similar to that of their athletic teams' logo.
ASU also worries that if parents of potential students are looking up the Internet for information on the university, they may come across the porn site and get a wrong impression about the university.
"You have extremes here, I mean on one hand, you have ASU which is like motherhood and apple pie, and the other hand you have not just any business, you have a porn site," said Donald Hudspeth, a business attorney who isn't connected to the case but has years of experience is similar battles. "Who had the name first? Is it being used for legitimate purpose?" Hudspeth said of the questions that will likely be asked.
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