The BBC is reporting that the Intellectual Property Office has objected to the original proposal by New College for the Humanities to register its name as a trademark. Though no official grounds have been given, the suggestion is that the successful registration by New College, Oxford before Christmas (over 600 years after its founding) may have something to do with it.

A bigger issue for NCH is that it does not appear on the UK Border Agency’s list of trusted sponsors and is therefore currently unable to bring overseas students to the UK.

The NCH website reads:

“We are currently able to accept EU and EEA or Swiss nationals only at the moment. While we welcome international students, it is not yet clear whether NCH will be able to sponsor students who require visas for entry in 2012. We expect to have further information by early 2012.”

Without a…