Virginia Tech has been hit with a counterclaim after it attempted to sue a company for using its ‘Hokie’ trademark without the university’s consent.
John Wilburn of Hokie Real Estate, the company served in the original suit, has petitioned the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office to block the action by Virginia Tech.
Wilburn claims the college is guilty of making fraudulent claims in its ‘Hokies’ trademark application.
In an email to The Roanoke Times, Wilburn’s attorney, Keith Finch, claimed that Virginia Tech had said it was “using the term Hokies on certain types of goods when it was not actually doing so.”
If the allegations are true, the university could lose its trademark dispute with Wilburn.
However, Mark Owczarski, a spokesperson for Virginia Tech, told the news provider: “This counterclaim is a stretch of the law and the facts.”
Recently, Florida State University challenged a number of high schools in the state to give up their Seminoles logos, which the institution claimed breached trademark law.