Entrepreneur hits out at ‘bonkers’ trademark row with Cambridge University after it launched a authorized problem over the identify of his enterprise
The owner of a rowing business faces a ‘bonkers’ legal challenge from Cambridge University, after it objected to him using the city in his company’s name.
Omar Terywall, 46, founded Cambridge Rowing, a business that introduces novices to the sport on the River Cam.
He applied to register the company’s name and a logo as a trademark in January 2022. But a few months later the chancellor, masters and scholars of the university lodged a formal objection, arguing that it must ‘protect trademarks to prevent misuse’.
Mr Terrywall said: ‘To take ownership of the words “Cambridge” and “rowing” – it’s bonkers.
‘Nobody really owns the right to the word “Cambridge” and nobody can say that they own the word “rowing” either. It belongs to all of us.’
Speaking to the BBC, he added: ‘The company is Cambridge Rowing Limited and it is a Cambridge rowing experience. It’s where we are, and it’s what I do.’
A hearing was held in 2025 and a ruling is expected early this year.
Omar Terywall at the City of Cambridge Rowing Club, which is not run by the university
The university, which was founded in 1209, has registered ‘Cambridge’ as a trademark, including for ‘sporting and cultural activities’ and ‘sport camp services’.
Downing College, which is part of the university, also holds a trademark for ‘Cambridge Rowing Tank’, an indoor training facility which has two 10-tonne pools.
The university – which takes part in an annual boat race against Oxford University each year – has objected to previous attempts by other companies to use ‘Cambridge’ in their names.
It argues that ‘the public knows that in the contexts of education, publishing, sport, academia and research, the word “Cambridge” always refers to the University of Cambridge’.
In 2021, following an objection, it was ruled that a brewery could not register ‘Cambridge Blue’ as the name of a boat race-themed lager.
The hearing officer in that case said the name could give the ‘false message that the goods had been authorised, recommended or approved of’ by Cambridge University, which would give the brewery an ‘unfair advantage’.
Mr Terywall said the university’s latest legal challenge left him with ‘no idea where to turn’, because while it is a ‘huge, multi-billion-pound entity’, he operates a ‘very small local business’.
He said: ‘It’s terrifying when you’ve got a big organisation like them coming after you… I guess, yes, there is a form of bullying there.’
The company operates from the City of Cambridge Rowing Club, one of several ‘town clubs’ in the area not run by the university.
It applied to register its logo – which includes a shield with a rower and the name of the company – in several trademark classes, including the one that covers sports.
The university said that it was ‘often subject to fraudulent actors misrepresenting their association to the university’.
It added: ‘While we recognise this is not the intention in every case, we have to protect trademarks to prevent misuse. If there is no protection, fraudulent use would increase.’
Mr Terywall said that he would not be changing his company’s name. ‘That would imply that I’ve done something wrong, and I haven’t,’ he said.
He added that the city was ‘very proud of what the university has achieved in Cambridge’. He said: ‘They’ve done remarkably well, but Cambridge existed way before the university did, as did rowing.’
The earliest known depiction of a rowing boat dates from about 5,800 BC and was discovered in Finland, according to World Rowing, the international governing body for the sport.
