As Harvard Bioscience, Inc. awaits its day in court, the company will be allowed to continue using the Harvard name as long as it never appears in the color crimson or in the same font the University employs.

The decision is the result of a pre-trial injunction handed down last week by a federal judge in the trademark infringement suit between the University and the medical equipment company.

Under the injunction, Harvard Bioscience must alter the color and font on the labels on certain products and remove any that say only Harvard.

Both sides are cautious to speculate what effect, if any, the injunction will have on the trials outcome.

The first thing to remember is that the case has not yet been decided, University spokesperson Joe Wrinn said yesterday. But its evident that the judge decided that the misuse of the name was egregious enough to warrant the injunction.

Harvard Bioscience CFO Jim Warren said the company is taking the courts injunction in stride.

"We would have liked the judge to have denied the injunction completely," Warren said. "But we expected it, and we are busy right now trying to comply with this ruling."

Harvard Bioscience has used the word Harvard in its name since 1901, but it changed its name from Harvard Apparatus to Harvard Bioscience last September.