The state of Massachusetts sued the University yesterday, seeking to ensure that Harvard Pilgrim Health Care can keep its name intact, regardless of whether Harvard grants permission.

The suit came less than a week after

Provost Harvey V. Fineberg '67 sent a brief letter to Attorney General Thomas F. Reilly stating that the University has a right to decide whether the debt-ridden health maintenance organization (HMO) can use the Harvard name.

"Harvard University asserts its rights to use of its name by Harvard Pilgrim or by any successor," the letter reads.

The University and the health plan have no official ties, although Robert H. Ebert, then-dean of the Harvard Medical School, had a hand in its 1969 creation.

But in the lawsuit, the state argues that Harvard Pilgrim has used the name for decades without objection.

"By the use of the word 'Harvard' in connection with health care coverage and services for over thirty years, Harvard Pilgrim has obtained common law rights in the word 'Harvard' in connection with health care coverage and services," the state's complaint reads.

Harvard Pilgrim lost nearly $200 million in 1999 and the state took control of the HMO earlier this year. The University, along with several private investors, has proposed a bailout plan, which the state is considering.

Harvard spokesperson Joe Wrinn defended the University's decision to raise the name issue now, given recent media reports that the state has considered--among other options--turning the HMO into a for-profit company.

"We think it's responsible for us to remind the people involved that we believe we own the use of the Harvard name and how it relates to teaching and research and medical education," Wrinn said.

Reilly said the timing of Fineberg's letter "placed a cloud" over the already difficult process of rehabilitating Harvard Pilgrim--a task that has fallen to the state and to its insurance commissioner, Linda L. Ruthardt, who serves as the state-appointed receiver of the HMO.

"Our job is to protect the plan and the million members who signed up to Harvard Pilgrim and not Harvard University," Reilly said.

He said Harvard Pilgrim has used the name for so long that it has a right to continue to use Harvard in its title.

"This is its name," Reilly said. "There is a complete package of rights that go with that name. They are interfering with our use of Harvard Pilgrim and the reputation of Harvard Pilgrim, which has been earned over a long period of time, independent of Harvard University."

Harvard Pilgrim has 1.1 million members. Reilly said he sees the program as an asset to the state--and said the suit is well worth taxpayers' money.

Harvard officials questioned whether the Attorney General read too much into Fineberg's letter.

Wrinn said the University has not ruled out the possibility of the HMO using "Harvard" in its name.

"We're nowhere near that point," he said.

Rather, he said, Fineberg's letter was meant to initiate a discussion about the most appropriate way to use the Harvard name, if it is used at all.

"We will say what we believe what the use of the name would be and any terms that might be attached to it. But there isn't anything specific," Wrinn said.

He added that the University had not addressed the issue of Harvard Pilgrim's name earlier "because it was not appropriate."

"Harvard Pilgrim is in transition right now," Wrinn said. "You deal with these things as they come up."

Wrinn said the University has become more stringent in regulating the "Harvard" name since Harvard Pilgrim's founding in 1969.

Wrinn pointed to the University's recent announcement that Harvard Vanguard Medical Associates, a non-profit doctors' group, would not be allowed to continue using the Harvard name when its three-year license expires at the end of this year.

"Vanguard is different because when the use of Harvard's name came into the mix [with them], we were actually licensing it," Wrinn said.

But the state charges that because Harvard has not raised the issue before, "the University promoted as well as acquiesced in this use by participating in the founding of the Harvard Community Health Plan, now Harvard Pilgrim, under that name," the suit reads.

Fineberg's letter invites the state to contact the University's general counsel Anne Taylor to begin discussions.

Wrinn said last night the state has not yet contacted Taylor or other Harvard attorneys.