Posted on 08/16/2010 9:31:24 AM PDT by 6SJ7
So there's this group of small-town ministers in Wisconsin who own a Volkswagen Beetle with the words "God Squad" written on the door, and now Best Buy wants to take them down with a cease-and-desist letter.
Father Luke Strand came up with the idea to create a God Squad car more than two years ago, as a way of promoting the message of Christ and to garner some passing glances from motorists on the street.
It was never intended to be used for commercial purposes and doesn't even really advertise anything. Strand doesn't offer any sort of "God Squad" services, other than the typical kind of advice and support you'd expect from any minister.
But the fact that the God Squad logo looks so similar to Geek Squad, and the use of a Volkswagen Beetle just adding insult to injury, has led Best Buy to threaten legal action against the preacher of God.
Fellow priest Dan Janasik said in an interview with local news outlet the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, "It's obviously not a Best Buy vehicle. When people see the car in public they usually laugh, and then it leads into lots of great conversations with strangers about faith and God."
But we all know Best Buy, and it is more concerned with flexing its muscles than appreciating a harmless use of its likeness for a holy purpose. Best Buy PR senior manager Paula Baldwin tried to sound as diplomatic as possible, saying, "This was a really difficult thing for us to do because we appreciate what Father Strand is trying to accomplish with his mission. But at the end of the day, it's bad precedent to let some groups violate our trademark while pursuing others."
Well, sure, Best Buy will probably convince Strand to modify the logo on his car, but really, in the end, what does it accomplish? Best Buy stands to gain absolutely nothing from this, but hey, when you pay corporate lawyers six-figure salaries to sit around in an office all day you gotta at least do something.
Best Buy was in hot water over the past Thanksgiving and Christmas season... Many FR posts last November... For example:
Best Buy ad Celebrates Eid al-Adha but not Christmas (Best Buy Is in Serious Need of FReeping)NOV 09
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2396098/posts
Their logo looks like that of Geek Squad.
The ministers should make their own logo obviously different, so it is clear they are not attempting to piggy-back on public recognition of the Geek Squad logo.
Best Buy needs to grow up and get the children out of corporate offices.
Best Buy’s corporate office in in Richfield, MN, just south of Minneapolis. You need to realize this is the Twin Cities area, where most people are stuck in a junior high school mentality.
If you don’t protect your trademarks you lose them. This is the lesson Bill Waterson (Calvin and Hobbes) learned the hard way and nobody can now afford to let anything slip by. If you see somebody getting close to your trademarked item you pretty much have to sue them.
Fr. Miles Riley out in the Bay Area has been broadcasting on both radio and TV for YEARS that he is from the God Squad, long before the term *geek* was coined by computer people, long before Best Buy existed. They will lose this one.
Putting a cease and desist on the God Squad is stupid, no doubt.
But I cannot get behind you at all with your objection to Best Buy hiring a store manager named Mohammed. Nor can I get behind the thinking that it was done as a demonstration of a chip on their shoulder.
The idea that the Regional Mgr for Best Buy was thinking ‘how can really cheese off our Christian customers in Tulsa. I know, let’s hire a store mgr named Mohammed’ is kind of silly.
“I think I’ll copywrite the words, “could”, “might”, “should”, “maybe”...you know the weasel words the MSM using to promote the political left. Then everytime they use these in a story, I’ll shout “cease and desist”. “
If Rightwatch LLC is any precedent, the “cease and desist” is no longer necessary. Just robosue. Just had a thought, this could turn Cloward Piven on the lefties!
Correction: Rightwatch LLC
Bingo!
Apple had trademarked the term “Mac,” but allowed hundreds of software, hardware and accessory vendors to use the term ... WITH FORMAL PERMISSION. They have kept that deal for 26 years. Worked for them.
I've got dibs on copywriting "unexpected" and "unexpectedly". Of course, after the 2012 presidential election, the MSM won't feel the need to use them so frequently.
If it was named allah squad Best Buy would endorse it.
The Best Buy corporate heads are idiots, even if the “God Squad” logo resembles theirs.
Everyone in business knows that flattery is the cheapest form of advertisement.
Geek was not coined by computer people. There were carnival performers called geeks before anyone ever saw a computer, they pretended to be wild men, biting heads off live chickens and doing other disgusting things, that is probably why young women sometimes refer to a very unattractive man as a geek. The term apparently originated as “geck” a long time ago.
LOL
‘There must be another place to buy “stuff”.
Amazon.com
Insanely great prices and top notch service.
“Surtur”?
So, when is Ragnarok due?....:)
Ragnarok will come when Loki breaks his chains and Naglfar is finally built. Then, we, the frost and storm giants, the dwarves, the trolls, and I and my fire demons, will storm the walls of Asgard. After the war, when all the old gods and heroes perish, only then may I cleanse the world with my purifying fire. Then, new life will rise from the ashes and the cycle of life will begin again. 8^)
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.