The city of Columbia is being sued by Co-Mo Comm, Inc., a Tipton-based internet, telephone and television provider, over the name and logo of the city’s bus system COMO Connect.
Co-Mo Comm is owned by Co-Mo Electric Cooperative, Inc.
In 2011, Co-Mo Electric formed Co-Mo Comm to offer “fiber-to-the-home internet, television and telephone services to its mid-Missouri service territory.” They began offering these services under the brand Co-Mo Connect.
Co-Mo Comm filed the federal lawsuit on Oct. 21.
The lawsuit says the city has caused confusion among Co-Mo Comm consumers such as “mistakenly” reaching the city’s transit website, and “mistakenly believed the COMO Connect name and logo emblazoned on the side of the City’s buses reflect an advertisement, sponsorship, or affiliate relationship between Co-Mo Comm and the city’s transit system.”
COMO Connect Marketing Specialist Shay Jasper says the company has no statement on the lawsuit at this time.
The lawsuit says “The city has been largely unresponsive to Co-Mo Comm’s attempts to address the problems caused by the use of COMO Connect, and continues to infringe the Co-Mo Connect trademark, to the ongoing and irreparable harm of Co-Mo Comm.”
The lawsuit says the city of Columbia did not respond at all to the Oct. 1 letter. Co-Mo Comm, through its attorney Jeffrey Simon, sent the city a second letter “demanding that the city immediately cease and desist all uses of the COMO Connect name and mark” on December 2015.
Simon says it became necessary to file the lawsuit in order to be able to protect its trademark and its brand in the mid-Missouri area.
“And we, because we were not able to get things worked out with the city of Columbia, we had no choice but to seek the help of a federal court to get that done,” Simon says.
City Manager Mike Matthes responded to the letter on Feb. 22 after an in-person meeting with Co-Mo Electric’s CEO Ken Johnson.
In the letter, the city offered to “review (its) current marking and branding efforts.”
Matthes argued COMO Connect’s branding started in May of 2013 while Co-Mo Connect’s branding was registered as a fictitious name with the Missouri Secretary of State in February 2014.
According to the Missouri Secretary of State’s website, “There may be an infinite number of businesses using the same name as there is no name protection undertake Fictitious Name Act.”
The lawsuit says Co-Mo Comm’s Co-Mo Connect registered as a federal trademark in 2015.
Matthes also wrote “As we discussed, the city would be willing to provide a link on its COMO Connect transit home page to direct individuals to the home page of your internet service website if they have reached the transit site in error.”
Columbia Community Relations Director Steven Sapp says the city cannot comment on a pending lawsuit.
According to the lawsuit, the city has not taken any steps to address the problems since the letter was last sent.
Simon says the city of Columbia was served with a summons on Oct. 24. The city has until Nov. 14 to respond.