Columbia sues medical company for using university's name in ads

Columbia University has filed a lawsuit against Columbia/HCA Healthcare Corporation Friday, alleging trademark infringement and unfair competition. In a recent nationwide advertising campaign, Columbia/HCA, a for-profit hospital chain formed in 1988, has been aggressively marketing the Columbia name, said Elaine Metcalf, a spokesperson for Columbia University Health Sciences, in a statement announcing the lawsuit. The corporation, based in Nashville, Tenn., owns or operates more than 300 hospitals in 32 states, primarily in the southern and western parts of the country. The company's health care facilities have no connection to Columbia University or Columbia-Presbyterian Medical Center, the university's not-for-profit hospital complex. The lawsuit seeks to prevent the company from using the Columbia name to promote its medical services. "The Columbia name is one of the oldest and most venerable in American medicine. Just like the names of Harvard, Yale, Penn or Baylor mean something in medicine, so does Columbia," said William Polf, Columbia Health Science's deputy vice president for external relations. "We believe HCA has infringed on our rights." Polf added that the university has requested an injunction in Manhattan's U.S. District Court to resolve the matter as quickly as possible. Legal proceedings began yesterday. Columbia/HCA officials, who answer the phone by simply saying "Columbia," did not respond to several requests for comment. In addition to an end to Columbia/HCA's advertising campaign, the university is seeking unspecified damages and wants the company to run corrective advertising. "The suit against Columbia/HCA states that a short-hand reference to 'Columbia doctors' or 'Columbia medicine' has long been identified nationally, internationally and in the New York City area exclusively with Columbia University and the Columbia-Presbyterian Medical Center," Metcalf said. According to Metcalf, Columbia/HCA has used the Columbia name in many of its hospitals and facilities. The company renamed Oklahoma's Presbyterian Hospital as "The Columbia Presbyterian Hospital" and is calling its university hospital in Tamarac, Fla., "The Columbia-University Hospital." "In addition, Columbia/HCA introduced a nationwide medical information service using the telephone number '1-800-Columbia,' " Metcalf added. Columbia's medical school -- one of the oldest in the nation -- was the first American institution to grant the M.D. degree.

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