"Great minds don't think alike," Aberdeen university said when it launched a staff recruitment drive with a full-page advertisement in The Times Higher last month.
In fact, it seems that great minds sometimes think very similarly indeed.
This week, representatives of Glamorgan University were forced to point out to Aberdeen that the same phrase has appeared in the Welsh institution's marketing material for the past year and a half.
Glamorgan has made clear that, following a major advertising campaign using the slogan, it believes that it owns the "concept" and deems Aberdeen's use to be a potential breach of copyright.
Peter Crofts, head of marketing at Glamorgan, said: "We were surprised to see that their advert so closely resembled ours, which has been in existence for 18 months.
"After speaking to Aberdeen however, we are satisfied the similarities are a coincidence and it will not be an ongoing problem. We have been advised that the particular advert with such close similarity to ours will not be repeated.
"They say imitation is the greatest form of flattery, so in some respects we are quite pleased."
Aberdeen published a full-page advertisement in The Times Higher on May , breaking new ground by advertising for staff without specifying what posts, or how many, might be available. The advert, part of the university's Sixth Century campaign masterminded by the advertising agency Saachi and Saachi, proclaimed: "Great minds don't think alike. They just work together."
The advert prompted huge interest from Times Higher readers as well as a flurry of comment on an academics' anti-plagiarism internet discussion forum.
Mike Reddy, a computing school lecturer at Glamorgan, and a member of the steering committee of the national Plagiarism Advisory Service, pointed out that Glamorgan's campaign phrase, from a much less glamorous local marketing agency, said: "Great minds don't think alike, but they do like to think."
Dr Reddy wrote: "Spot the similarity? Is this plagiarism? Maybe today's marketing people have been learning too closely from yesterday's."
Rachel Forsyth, a senior learning and teaching fellow at Manchester Metropolitan University, said: "If using, or playing on, idioms is considered plagiarism, then we had all better watch our steps before we speak our minds on any subject."
Jill Moir, of Aberdeen, said: "The 'great minds' line was just one headline... in a wider series developed by the university as part of its fundraising, student and staff recruitment campaigns."
CHOICE SLOGANS
Some universities have warmed to the vocational theme:
* Luton - education that works
* Bradford - making knowledge work
Some prefer to stress their geography or heritage:
* Manchester - combining the strengths of Umist and the Victoria University of Manchester
* Birkbeck College - educating busy Londoners
* Gloucestershire - at Cheltenham and Gloucester
Some like to say exactly what they are:
* City- the university for business and the professions
Some prefer something a little more esoteric:
* Birmingham - be proud
* Staffordshire - create the difference
And others prefer the aspirational:
* Northumbria - great learning, great experience, great future
* Liverpool John Moores - dream, plan, achieve