Columbia Sportswear is suing Columbia University, accusing the university of copyright infringement and breach of contract.
The retailer claims the university’s clothing and merchandise are too similar to its own offerings and that those similarities may confuse shoppers.
The lawsuit was filed on July 23 in the U.S. District Court for the District of Oregon. Columbia Sportswear has been using the name “Columbia” since 1938.
The university and the retailer reportedly signed a deal in 2023 dictating the ways in which the university can use the word “Columbia” on its own apparel and merchandise.
The pact stipulated that the university could use the name “Columbia” on merchandise so long as a school logo or mascot, the word “university”, or an academic department of the founding year of the school — which dates back to 1754 — were present alongside the word.
Columbia Sportswear claims in its lawsuit that the university breached those terms in 2024 when it allegedly began offering merchandise that used the name “Columbia” without any of the school signifiers established in the pact.
The retailer also noted in the filing that the university was offering garments with bright blue colors that were “confusingly similar” to the blue used by Columbia Sportswear.
“The likelihood of deception, confusion, and mistake engendered by the university’s misappropriation and misuse of the Columbia name is causing irreparable harm to the brand and goodwill symbolized by Columbia Sportswear’s registered mark Columbia and the reputation for quality it embodies,” the lawsuit argues.
Columbia Sportswear wants to stop all sales of the university’s clothing that allegedly violate the 2023 agreement. It further wants a recall of all previously sold items and all the remaining stock to be donated to charity.
The retailer is also seeking three times the amount of actual damages determined by a jury if its litigation is successful.
The lawsuit comes at a time when Columbia University is preparing to pay a settlement of more than $220 million to the Trump administration in order to restore its federal research money that the president cancelled earlier this year.
Under the settlement, the college will pay $200 million to the federal government over the next three years.
