backtop

Print 101 comment(s) - last by omega356.. on Aug 22 at 11:28 AM

Best Buy is threatening to sue a Catholic priest over his Beetle that reads "God Squad". Best Buy claims that violates its Geek Squad trademark.  (Source: Flickr)
Best Buy accuses Catholic Priest of violating its trademark and Geek Squad look

Father Luke Strand of the Holy Family Parish in Fond Du Lac, Wisconsin, has a pretty interesting ride.  He drives around town in a black Volkswagen Beetle with a logo featuring the phrase "God Squad" emblazoned on it.  That logo and the vehicle itself bear a striking similarity to the mobile service vehicles of Best Buy's service team, the Geek Squad.

Apparently, Best Buy isn't pleased with its look being appropriated by this man of the cloth.  Lawyers for the electronics retailer sent Father Strand a cease-and-desist letter telling him to ditch the logo or face consequences.  

Father Strand mentioned the letter at his Sunday Mass.

Speaking to the Fond du Lac Reporter, Father Strand defended the logo.  He says he uses the logo as a creative way to spur discussions and bring his faith to the community.

Best Buy told reporters for the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel that while it appreciates Father Strand's sentiments, it cannot stand by and watch its trademarks be violated.

The legal dispute revives a long ongoing question of just how much ownership to an icon a company can claim.  Apple, Inc., for example, has been particularly zealous in legally assailing those who supposedly violated its trademark.  From New York City to music festivals, anyone who used the logo of an Apple -- or particularly a logo of an Apple with a bite out of it -- was hit with lawsuits or cease-and-desist letters. 

Some argue that companies are taking trademark enforcement to far; corporate lawyers would obviously disagree.

Comments     Threshold


This article is over a month old, voting and posting comments is disabled
RE: Definitely a copy...
By GruntboyX on 8/16/2010 12:46:07 PM , Rating: 1
I thought that through the creative commons license parodies were ok. While the stylizing is similar. The replacement of Geek with God and the changing of the color scheme represents at least a 25% difference. In court the priest would be successful defending his stance.

Not to mention what monetary gain does a church recieve from this? I hardly see this as a confusion of trademarks. And in a wisconsin court I think they will agree. Best Buy needs to take a deep breath. What harm is this man doing?


RE: Definitely a copy...
By Mitch101 on 8/16/10, Rating: 0
RE: Definitely a copy...
By Donkeyshins on 8/16/2010 1:23:08 PM , Rating: 4
quote:
Religion > BestBuy

I guess BestBuy cant tarnish its image with anything that serves the greater good of humanity. That I could believe would be the basis of the suit.

While I agree that in general your equation is probably accurate (Best Buy is da Debbil), I would never accuse the Catholic church, given it's long and tarnished history, of serving the greater good of humanity.


RE: Definitely a copy...
By Shining Arcanine on 8/16/10, Rating: -1
RE: Definitely a copy...
By Shadowself on 8/16/2010 1:42:24 PM , Rating: 5
Ah, and the Inquisition was all about the monarchs? Hardley.

And while it's often referred to at the "Spanish Inquisition" it actually was in many countries, not just Spain.

The Catholic Church has done many things I'm sure it is not now proud of doing and supporting.


RE: Definitely a copy...
By Reclaimer77 on 8/16/10, Rating: 0
RE: Definitely a copy...
By Reflex on 8/16/2010 6:45:15 PM , Rating: 5
The Catholic Church(and other churches but the Catholics are the largest) even today engages in downright evil practices. Priests in Africa teach that condoms spread HIV to their unfortunatly illiterate parishoners. How many millions are dead or dying due to this? In South America they actively attempt to block scientists from their research by lying to local tribes about their intentions. Some groups down there actively arm local tribes so they can avenge themselves against tribal enemies in exchange for mass conversion(most common actually with Baptist and other non-Catholic missionary groups).

And thats before we even get into India where the atrocities are horrendous(look up the Baptist Church of Tripura), including a decades long genocide against non-Christians and mutilation of women(cutting off of breasts for instance) who do not convert.

There is plenty that the Catholics and other Christian organizations have to answer for. Its not a question of how long they exist.

And before you accuse me of being Atheist, I am a Christian, and ordained. That most of the Christian community looks the other way at the ongoing abuses by our faith in the third world is a disgrace.


RE: Definitely a copy...
By Reclaimer77 on 8/16/10, Rating: 0
RE: Definitely a copy...
By Reflex on 8/16/2010 8:39:44 PM , Rating: 3
Breaking this into three posts to try and avoid the spam filter which keeps flagging me...

Sorry you only took two minutes. A little more research and you'd know otherwise. From this article:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/7014335.stm
quote:
Archbishop Chimoio told our reporter that abstention, not condoms, was the best way to fight HIV/Aids.

"Condoms are not sure because I know that there are two countries in Europe, they are making condoms with the virus on purpose," he alleged, refusing to name the countries.

"They want to finish with the African people. This is the programme. They want to colonise until up to now. If we are not careful we will finish in one century's time."


That is the Archbishop in Mozambique. Its not only him either, I know and work with many native Africans, this is what they push and have pushed for decades now. The Pope's comment may or may not have been out of context, I do not know, but the policy, officially or unofficially, is what is being pursued there.


RE: Definitely a copy...
By Reflex on 8/16/2010 8:40:23 PM , Rating: 1
As for the Baptist Church of Tripura, here is just one relevant article:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/world/south_asia/717775...
quote:
Nagmanlal Halam, secretary of the Noapara Baptist Church in Tripura, was arrested late on Monday with a large quantity of explosives.

Mr Sarkar said that allegations about the close links between the state's Baptist Church and the rebel National Liberation Front of Tripura (NLFT) have long been made by political parties and police.

Now for the first time, he said, hard evidence supporting the allegations had been found.

I was not aware of ChristianAggression.com, but I am aware that the US mainstream media does not cover the atrocities committed overseas by Christian denominations. Fortunatly there are other sources for media, such as the BBC, which is considered 'mainstream' even if not US-centric.

You are also correct, these are Baptists, not Catholics, but if you read my post I never obscured that fact.


RE: Definitely a copy...
By Reflex on 8/16/2010 8:41:48 PM , Rating: 1
The Holocaust accusations were not made by myself, I have no idea aside from the fact that some priests, especially in France, were complicit to a degree. However you may wish to look at the role the Catholic's played in Franco's Spain for clearer connections to modern atrocities. Read the link here for more info:
(apparantly this is the link its flagging as spam, complete the address on your own) countrystudies.us/spain/22.htm

I never said the church is inherantly evil, that is an attempt to mischaractorize my argument. I am a Christian myself, obviously I feel the faith does good work. However many of its members are perfectly willing to condemn extremists in other faiths, while ignoring extremists of our own faith. The proper response to this can be found in Matthew 7:
quote:
1“Do not judge, or you too will be judged. 2For in the same way you judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.

3“Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother’s eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye? 4How can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ when all the time there is a plank in your own eye? 5You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s eye.


RE: Definitely a copy...
By FITCamaro on 8/16/10, Rating: 0
RE: Definitely a copy...
By Reflex on 8/17/2010 4:24:53 AM , Rating: 1
He isn't a crazy person. He is the Archbishop for Mozambique, a major African nation. Furthermore, if you know people who actually live there, they will tell you that the Catholic churches preach this in their sermons routinely, and even try to arrange protests at family planning centers. Whether or not you think he's crazy, what matters is what his illiterate followers think. Note that the Catholic church has done *nothing* to remove or discredit him, and he's been saying this for years now.

As for the millions they have given food shelter and clothes to, whats your point? That because they do good in some ways they must be absolved of something horribly evil they commit?

And its a far cry from saying "Abstinence is better" to go to "Condoms are soaked in HIV so that the colonialists can take control again".


RE: Definitely a copy...
By tmouse on 8/17/2010 8:32:08 AM , Rating: 3
I work for a major Jewish research center and I personally know dozens of scientists who are not catholic who work closely with the catholic church because many of the leaders in South America and Africa are so corrupt they take the medications and vaccines and sell them on the black market for their own profit. Many demand personal payment to institute vaccine programs, others are not really in charge at all and in at least 5 cases I personally know of millions of dollars of vaccines were left to rot when shipments got “lost”, mishandled or were simply abandoned. The sisters of charity have helped millions worldwide, working in some of the worst places on earth. I work with many people who have come from some of the most impoverished places in the world and would not be the successful bioresearchers they are today if it were not for the education they received from the Catholic Church. From a biological point of view abstainence IS better than a condom but that is really not a practical view. People should know that condoms are only 98% effective at preventing pregnancy if used correctly; a sperm is more than 400X the size of the aids virus. There is a 3-5% production failure rate in the best of circumstances, no condom company tests for viral exclusion, and latex becomes fragile and porous with age. Of course we all know that only latex condoms help with the prevention of disease, natural ones are totally useless. It’s MUCH better to use condoms but no one should think it is in any way a guarantee of protection from viral diseases.


RE: Definitely a copy...
By Reflex on 8/17/2010 12:17:31 PM , Rating: 1
Fantastic. Be that as it may, how does that excuse the fact that condoms are actually wonderful at preventing HIV(the 'failure' ratio is usually due to the condom being improperly applied or breaking, not due to the size of sperm, or HIV, latex protects from the virus perfectly as long as there is no failure) and this archbishop is telling people that condoms give them HIV?

Yes its wonderful that the church is sometimes less corrupt than the government. But no one is contending that fact. The governments in Africa are horribly corrupt, they are often complicit in the HIV epidemic(as witnessed by South Africa's goverment's attempts to treat it with tribal medicine), but that does not somehow refute the point that the church is directly contributing to the death of its members by lying about the role of contraception in preventing HIV infections, and that by so doing millions are dying.


RE: Definitely a copy...
By Reclaimer77 on 8/17/2010 1:59:48 AM , Rating: 2
You said MILLIONS were dead and dying because Catholic priests said this. Those are YOUR words. And your proof that this is an official Catholic policy is the words of one, obviously, nutty guy.

Yup, millions dead because of advocating for abstinence. That makes a lot of sense man, really.

From your link:
quote:
the Catholic Church played a leading role in sponsoring the 1992 peace deal that ended a 16-year civil war.


Yeah, just more evidence of all the evils of the Catholic church and their quest to further pile up body counts...oh wait.

I guess bloody civil wars are no match against the sheer destructive force of abstinence on a population.


RE: Definitely a copy...
By Reflex on 8/17/2010 4:29:12 AM , Rating: 2
So you concede my points then and now its just about numbers.

Mozambique has a population of 22 million, of which at least seven million are Catholic. The HIV infection rate is 16.2% of the population, or a bit more than 3 million people. Of those, at least a third are likely Catholic, although given how they are being taught it would not suprise me if they represented a disproportionate number of the total.

So we have one million on a conservative estimate. In one single African country. How much more math do you want to do?


RE: Definitely a copy...
By Reclaimer77 on 8/17/2010 1:58:38 PM , Rating: 2
Oh come on, there is NO way you can attribute people getting HIV to the words and teachings of one or two loony's. That's SO irresponsible. Much less millions of people.

Unless you get raped or suffer a freak blood transfusion incident, getting HIV/AID's is 100% your fault. Especially in Africa!

quote:
So you concede my points


You saw concessions in my post? Really?

It's clear that you, like many here, have some grudge against the Catholic church and are REALLY reaching to make your point. Blaming the African HIV epidemic on any one group is just absurd, especially the church.


RE: Definitely a copy...
By Reflex on 8/17/2010 3:30:29 PM , Rating: 4
You keep saying the guy is a loony. He is not. He is an archbishop and directly in charge of the Catholic church in that nation. They could remove him from his post if they felt he was not properly sending their message, but they do not even in the face of direct protest.

As to your other point, do you honestly believe the wives of men who acquire HIV are to blame for getting the virus? How about the children of those women? Are they to blame for being born with it? At this point they represent the majority of the victims.

And yes, I see concessions when you cease actually addressing the fact that I discredited your attempted rebuttal of my points and instead started trying to prove that my 'millions' figure was inaccurate. That means you are not willing to argue the facts presented and instead just want to diminish the crime committed. Nice try, but I already found a million victims in just one nation. Going to own up to the fact that you were wrong about Catholic leaders in Africa? Going to own up to the fact that the international mainstream news has been covering the Baptist Church of Tripura, and one dosen't have to go to whatever that website was to find such coverage?

Or do I have to do all your research for you while you reply with a couple of dismissive paragraphs and arguments about scope?


RE: Definitely a copy...
By thurston on 8/16/2010 9:12:53 PM , Rating: 5
quote:
When the Catholic church starts going around blowing up buildings and beheading people, then you give me a call.


I guess child rape is OK with you.


RE: Definitely a copy...
By Zoridon on 8/17/2010 3:03:55 AM , Rating: 2
Have you ever taken the time to run the numbers to determin what percentage of catholic priest are guilty of child molestation? Nooooo that would require yet another leftist to actually think before they post. Its far easier to take cheap shots at a religion. Your pathetic.


RE: Definitely a copy...
By Reflex on 8/17/2010 4:21:47 AM , Rating: 2
What does being left or right have to do with it? While I agree that its possible that child molestation is no higher among the ranks of priests than it is among the general population(I doubt this, but say its true), that does nothing to change the fact that the church heiarchy wish complicit in the act by refusing to notify authorities and transferring priests to new locations where they could rape some more. Even the current pope was involved in this tragedy.


RE: Definitely a copy...
By Reflex on 8/17/2010 4:30:33 AM , Rating: 2
I'll go you one better. How short everyone's memory is. Nobody remembers the IRA after only a decade and a half of peace. Lots of blown up buildings, murdered people, some brutally as examples to other. Amazing that everyone is so forgetful about Christian Terrorism.


RE: Definitely a copy...
By Reclaimer77 on 8/17/2010 2:07:09 PM , Rating: 2
Ok now I know you're not thinking clearly. Members of the IRA might be Christian, but to call them Christian terrorists is just absurd. The IRA are terrorists, or freedom fighters depending on who you ask, but CHRISTIAN terrorists? How do you come to that conclusion?

Are they pushing a Christian agenda? Do they seek out and only murder non-Christians? Are their demands religiously based in any way? The answer to these are most clearly no, so I don't know how you can call them Christian Terrorism.

Reflex, you're reaching here. That's putting it mildly. Fundamentalism is often a form of nationalism in religious disguise


RE: Definitely a copy...
By Reflex on 8/17/2010 3:23:54 PM , Rating: 2
Actually they sought out and murdered Protestants as they were a Catholic organization. They had both religious and political goals. Like Al Quaeda, who's primary function is political, not religious but that uses religion as one of their justifications.

Do they represent the Catholic church? Of course not. But then most radicals, religious or otherwise, are not officially sanctioned. And that goes for any religion, Christian or otherwise.


RE: Definitely a copy...
By Reclaimer77 on 8/17/2010 4:57:24 PM , Rating: 2
You say Protestant, they say Englishman.


RE: Definitely a copy...
By Reflex on 8/17/2010 6:22:09 PM , Rating: 1
You say Jew, they say Zionist. Two can play that game.

They targetted Protestants in Ireland too. Irish ones in fact. Most of their terror for decades was targetted against their fellow Irish, against any they felt were collaborators or Protestants.


RE: Definitely a copy...
By gamerk2 on 8/16/2010 1:53:31 PM , Rating: 5
quote:
The Catholic Church has no tarnish in its history.


Inquisition? Crusades? Over 500 years of promoting war throughout Europe against "pagan religions"? Pedophilia?

Excuse me while I ROFL at your comment.


RE: Definitely a copy...
By tastyratz on 8/16/2010 3:44:44 PM , Rating: 2
What? Didn't you know the infallibility of god extends to men in the catholic religion?
But hey, at least he was humble about it.

Just wait, he might have more jokes!


RE: Definitely a copy...
By afkrotch on 8/16/2010 9:22:38 PM , Rating: 2
Wasn't the bible written by men?


RE: Definitely a copy...
By vortex222 on 8/16/2010 1:48:20 PM , Rating: 2
Especially young boys.


RE: Definitely a copy...
By SublimeSimplicity on 8/16/2010 1:56:07 PM , Rating: 2
I think that by "Religion > Best Buy" the OP was referring to brand loyalty, which is what PR is all about.

If forced to pick sides, people are much more likely to stick with their church and find a new place to buy a washing machine than the other way around.


RE: Definitely a copy...
By tmouse on 8/17/2010 7:55:23 AM , Rating: 3
Wow you really are ignorant. Sure it has had a history; there is not a single solitary example of ANY organization that has grown to any degree of power that has not abused that authority. Yes there are bad apples as there are in ANY organization bar none. But to say it has not benefitted humanity is just plain stupid. There are millions who owe their very lives to the actions of catholic charities (food, shelter, clothing and medical treatment). Medical research often reaches out to the Catholic Church to help implement things like vaccine programs in countries where the governments are either too unorganized or corrupt to help their own populace. In many areas it still remains the best hope for any type of education. Yes its history has tarnish but to say it has not served (and still does) human interest just shows the degree of your own bias and stupidity.


RE: Definitely a copy...
By Donkeyshins on 8/17/2010 5:19:20 PM , Rating: 1
quote:
there is not a single solitary example of ANY organization that has grown to any degree of power that has not abused that authority


But then again, they are supposedly answerable to a higher power and should therefore be less likely to abuse that authority.

When you add up all the prominent abuses over the last 1700 years (the Crusades, the Inquisition, pogroms against the Jews, Papal indulgences and simony, the Thirty Years' War, the persecution and massacre of the gnostics as well as the recent pedophilia scandals), the damages to people (millions killed in the name of Catholicism), property and society are quite horrific - especially as compared to other organized religions.

And I'm not ignorant, I just don't buy into the hype. :)


RE: Definitely a copy...
By tmouse on 8/18/2010 10:24:37 AM , Rating: 2
You lump all by the actions of the few. Yes things have been done that are in direct opposition of what they are supposed to be. So do you think all Germans should be forever linked to the atrocities caused by the Nazis? The Chinese and the Russians also have had regimes that have committed wrongful acts are all members of their governments to be forever tarred by your biased brush. The vast majority of the catholic clergy have lead fairly selfless lives and the good the catholic church has done to 100's of millions over its 2000 year history still exists in spite of the evil that was done in its name. Large scale actions like the inquisition and the purges are easy to spot and take note of, smaller things like free medical care, food and education in local areas or for individuals regardless of belief are harder to collect numbers on since they are not the stuff history is written on. That’s the problem with humans; they say one thing and some will do other things in direct opposition. The good does not excuse the bad but the bad doses not exclude the good. As far as “worse than other organized religions” the problems lie in the lack of a central authority to accumulate the data. The vast majority of the actions you site have been discovered by information kept by the Catholic Church itself. I'm sure the Jewish and Islamic religions have also murdered millions during their history as heretics. Now look at non sectarian governments the death tolls caused by imperialism, and nationalism dwarfs these numbers. it’s not a question of hype, obviously you have your own personal baggage the simple facts are during its 2000 year history far more have been helped than hurt.


RE: Definitely a copy...
By Hoeser on 8/19/2010 11:03:50 AM , Rating: 2
"The Catholic Church doesn't make mistakes... Alright, mistakes were made" - George Carlin, Dogma.


RE: Definitely a copy...
By RealTheXev on 8/21/2010 11:19:11 PM , Rating: 2
Best Buy is a company that hires employees, not based on the quality of their skill but on the quality of their credit rating. In my opinion, their reputation has already been tarnished. If this makes national news like I "pray" it will, then I hope it would be a PR nightmare for them.

If you can't tell, I've been burned by them repeatedly.


RE: Definitely a copy...
By VultureTX on 8/16/10, Rating: 0
RE: Definitely a copy...
By nafhan on 8/16/2010 2:48:38 PM , Rating: 5
I'm also going to add (and I think this is more important):

Free speach > Protecting random, silly corporate logos

Plus, I read somewhere else that he's been driving the car around like this for two years. I really don't get why BB is pursuing this.


"What would I do? I'd shut it down and give the money back to the shareholders." -- Michael Dell, after being asked what to do with Apple Computer in 1997











botimage
Copyright 2013 DailyTech LLC. - RSS Feed | Advertise | About Us | Ethics | FAQ | Terms, Conditions & Privacy Information | Kristopher Kubicki