HARRISBURG (TNS) — Penn State University has gone to war with a central Pennsylvania firm that it claims has hijacked its PSU, PENN STATE and Nittany Lion trademarks.

The target of the trademark infringement lawsuit the school filed in U.S. Middle District Court is Keystone Alternatives of Red Lion, which rents RVs for tailgating at Penn State’s football games.

Penn State officials claim one of Keystone’s web sites, GoPSUrv.com, is way too similar to its own site, GoPSUsports.com.

They also accuse Keystone of using PENN STATE and the school’s famed Nittany Lion logo in its advertising without permission.

Keystone owner Mark Lauer declined comment when contacted about the suit Tuesday.

Penn State contends that Keystone is guilty not only of trademark infringement, but also of unfair competition and cybersquatting. Those acts have caused confusion for fans and customers of “the flagship university of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania,” the suit states.

“Penn State is famous throughout the United States and the world for, among other things, its educational programs (and) athletic programs,” the suit adds.

Its “famous and instantly recognizable” PSU mark has been used by the university for more than 40 years, school officials claim. The PENN STATE mark dates from 1908 and the Nittany Lion has been the university’s mascot since 1904. The current lion logo has been in use for more than 30 years.

There is commercial competition between Penn State and Keystone.

Penn State allows sports fans to buy overnight parking passes for its RV lot. Keystone has its own RV lot and offers a free shuttle service to Beaver Stadium. A recording on Keystone’s toll-free reservation number advertises “no more all the rules and fees of the university.”

Keystone’s web site features interior and exterior photos of its RVs that display the Penn State and Nittany Lion logos. In November, Keystone featured those logos in a newspaper ad for a tailgating party, the suit states.

Penn State is asking Senior Judge Yvette Kane to permanently bar Keystone from using its trademarks. It is demanding that Keystone surrender all of its products that bear those trademarks and that it be banned from “using any designation that is likely to disparage, tarnish or dilute the distinctive quality of the PSU mark.”

The university seeks unspecified financial damages for fiscal harm it claims to have suffered due to the alleged infringement. Also, it seeks $100,000 in damages for Keystone’s “bad faith registration” of GoPSUrv.com.