DMACC Files Motion to Increase Preliminary Injunction Bond in Defense of Logo Lawsuit Instigated by Drake University
Des Moines Area Community College (DMACC) has filed a motion requesting that Drake University increase its bond from $25,000 to $250,000 to reflect DMACC’s costs required to remove its recently refreshed DMACC “D” logo and branding from properties and materials utilized in the service of its more than 35,000 students at its 13 central Iowa locations. The motion was in response to November’s injunction stemming from Drake University’s federal trademark infringement lawsuit. DMACC is appealing the injunction.
An injunction bond protects a defendant from financial damages if they are harmed by a wrongfully issued injunction. DMACC has vigorously sought to follow the Court’s ruling to remove all “D” marks from its properties and materials since the November preliminary injunction ruling. However, given DMACC’s large footprint, including 62 buildings, as well as extensive corporate, education and community partnerships across central Iowa, the process is intensive and costly to replace all logo usage.
“Our intention has always been to fully comply with the Court’s order. And other than a very few items that were impossible to remove in just 21 days – infrastructure like a gymnasium floor or materials that vendors control, like billboards – we have done so,” said Erica Spiller, vice president of student affairs at DMACC. “Our staff worked tirelessly through the Thanksgiving holiday and finals week, already one of our busiest times of year, to remove the many thousands of instances of this logo at DMACC’s more than 500 classrooms and public spaces, as well as those of our many public and private partners. Only three instances of the logo remain and we have plans in place to remove those.”
In addition to the DMACC’s motion to increase the preliminary injunction bond, attorneys for DMACC also filed a compliance update for the preliminary injunction and a resistance to Drake’s application to show cause. “We have acted swiftly and in good faith throughout this process,” said Rob Denson, president of DMACC. “However, our organization is significantly larger than the private university plaintiff. The increase in the injunction bond is necessary because it was more costly and time-consuming for us to comply.”
DMACC is the largest community college in Iowa with the lowest tuition and fees in the state. With corporate partnerships for advanced education and training with organizations like Google, Amazon, Goldman Sachs, the Transportation Security Administration, and the Department of Labor, DMACC offers more than 220 programs and transfer partnerships across Iowa and the United States.
“Despite the lawsuit,” Denson said, “we will not lose sight of our focus on serving our students.”
For more information, contact:
Erica Spiller, Vice President, Student Affairs
(515) 964-6622, elspiller@dmacc.edu