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Our Mark
Being a well-settled principle in trademark law that abandonment is an affirmative defense against claims of infringement, in selecting a mark for the Academy of Intellectual Property Law and Geissler & Associates it was found appropriate to select a mark of great historical significance but one that had been abandoned and in need of a proud new home.
The recently abandoned mark of the Oxford and Cambridge Club in London is just such a mark.
Thus, the mark adopted for use by the Academy of Intellectual Property Law and Geissler & Associates formerly served as the badge of the Oxford and Cambridge Club in London for 185 years before being formally abandoned by its General Committee in January 2008 in favor of a re-designed and modernized badge.
DESCRIPTION OF THE MARK
The mark contains highly stylized versions of the arms of the two historic universities, Oxford and Cambridge.
Elements from the arms of the former include: three crowns, a mark of Thomas Cranley dating from 1386 and the legend “Dominus Illuminato Mea” (the opening words of Psalm 27).
Elements from the arms of the latter include: the central feature of a book; a white cross decorated with black ermine tails; and four yellow lions walk with one leg raised on a red background.
HISTORY OF THE MARK
According to Owen Highley, a member of the General Committee of the Oxford and Cambridge Club, the first evidence of the use of the arms of the two universities as a club badge is contained in the 1822 library bookplates of the United University Club. The Oxford and Cambridge University Club began to use similar but slightly different bookplates in 1830. In both cases the arms of each university were placed next to each other and this practice was again followed when a new design was adopted for the United Oxford and University Club after the amalgamation. The current design, showing two overlapping devices sloping at an angle was adopted in 1982. It was similar to the device used until the amalgamation by the United University Club.
