Smith, Gambrell & Russell (SGR) intellectual property attorney Rodgers Lunsford participated in a panel discussion relating to the recent dispute involving the registration, licensing and abandonment of the University of Georgia (UGA) trademark.

In June 2003, the university severed its ties with the UGA Foundation after a disagreement related to the release of long-time Athletic Director, Vince Dooley by UGA President Michael Adams. In May 2004, the Foundation was placed on formal notice, effectively dissolving the parties’ 67-year relationship. The notice required that the Foundation stop operating with “University of Georgia” in its name immediately. Due to a lapse in renewal of the trademark in question by the Board of Regents and an application for registration by the Foundation there is now a question of who’s got the right to use the name of the university and the stylized “G” that is so popular in the state of Georgia.

In late June 2004 four top intellectual property attorneys from Atlanta law firms joined a professor from Mercer University School of Law to discuss the implications of the trademark in question, the case and the Georgia Board of Regents and the UGA Foundation’s rights to the mark.

Rodgers Lunsford, a partner in the intellectual property department in SGR’s Atlanta office has specific expertise is in litigating intellectual property disputes. Mr. Lunsford has been recognized by Chambers & Partners as “one of the trademark aristocracy within the Atlanta legal market,” and has been named one of Georgia’s “Legal Elite” and a “Georgia Super Lawyer,” respectively, in listings published in Georgia Trend Magazine (December 2003) and in Atlanta Magazine and Georgia Super Lawyers magazine (March 2004) based on selections made by Georgia attorneys.