Geek Squad Sends Cease-and-Desist Letter To God Squad

An anonymous reader writes "A Wisconsin priest has God on his car but Best Buy's lawyers on his back. Father Luke Strand at the Holy Family Parish in Fond Du Lac says he has received a cease-and-desist letter from the electronics retailer. From the article: 'At issue is Strand's black Volkswagen Beetle with door stickers bearing the name "God Squad" in a logo similar to that of Best Buy's Geek Squad, a group of electronics troubleshooters. Strand told the Fond du Lac Reporter that the car is a creative way to spur discussion and bring his faith to others. Best Buy Co. tells the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel that it appreciates what Strand is trying to do, but it's bad precedent to let groups violate its trademarks.'"

Comments

Logo

[g0bshiTe]

http://www.i4u.com/37852/omg-geek-squad-wants-sue-priest The priests logo. And we all know what Geek Squad logo looks like.

Re:Logo

[g0bshiTe]

The Geek Squad colors are reversed. Orange up top black on bottom. I can see how this would be infringing.

Re:Logo

[Volante3192]

He might be able to get away with 'God Squad' but he still needs a new logo.

Re:Logo

[Zeek40]

The problem is that Best Buy needs to send him a Cease and Desist when they become aware of possible infringement or they waive their rights to assert the trademarks in other cases. It's not that they want to be dicks to that particular guy, it's that if they let him get away with it, they lose their right to assert trademark infringement in future cases. The Icons and VW Bug thing are close enough that no reasonable person would say it's not derivative of Geek Squad's logos, so if they let him get away with it they have to let everyone get away with it. There is significant legal precedent that non-asserted trademarks are not valid trademarks. It's much safer for them to just send this guy a C&D than to have a different, real trademark infringement case a year down the road where the defense claims that Geek Squad was aware of other trademark violations that they took no action to end those violations, therefore their trademark claim should be thrown out.

Re:Logo

[wiredlogic]

Best Buy could do the right thing and still protect their trademark by offering to license his usage for a token fee like $1.

Re:Logo

[Anonymous Coward]

Atheism isn't a religion. It's a state of having no religious belief. A person who has never been taught to believe, and a person who has been taught and choose to not believe are both Atheist.

Personally, I find it a bit naive and egotistic (thereby violating rules that you were taught to live by) to think that you know the answer to a question that nobody can undeniably prove and those that disagree with you are wrong (and will suffer eternal damnation!)

Re:Obviously overzealous

[Nadaka]

They are not being necessarily being overzealous. In the US, trademarks MUST be defended to be valid. If they failed to defend against this possible trademark issue, then the next guy that does a geek squad look alike can point to this case to strengthen his case that the trademark has become generic.

Must Defend Trademark

[TheNinjaroach]

Geek Squad has to actively defend their trademark, otherwise they risk losing it. Looking at the FP's link with a bit more information, it sounds to me like Best Buy's PR woman was hinting at an appropriate solution. I bet they find a way to make everyone happy and simply license the trademark to Father Luke for his "God Squad" use.

Re:Mod Squad

[Dachannien]

No, not really. Look at the logo. It's clearly based on the Geek Squad logo.

Re:Trademark

[maotx]

Found out a little bit more. Unless you're going to confuse God Squad for Geek Squad, this doesn't appear to have a leg to stand on.
From 1114. Remedies; infringement; innocent infringement by printers and publishers emphasis mine

• (1) Any person who shall, without the consent of the registrant—
  (a) use in commerce any reproduction, counterfeit, copy, or colorable imitation of a registered mark in connection with the sale, offering for sale, distribution, or advertising of any goods or services on or in connection with which such use is likely to cause confusion, or to cause mistake, or to deceive; or
  (b) reproduce, counterfeit, copy, or colorably imitate a registered mark and apply such reproduction, counterfeit, copy, or colorable imitation to labels, signs, prints, packages, wrappers, receptacles or advertisements intended to be used in commerce upon or in connection with the sale, offering for sale, distribution, or advertising of goods or services on or in connection with which such use is likely to cause confusion, or to cause mistake, or to deceive,

Then again, IANAL

Re:Parody?

[SatanicPuppy]

Nah, doesn't apply because it's not ironic, and it's not targeted at the Geek Squad.

If you did a car that looked like the geek squad car, with a logo that was the same except it said, "Week Squad" and ran around fixing peoples computers with a sledgehammer, and filming it...THAT would be parody.

Or in this case, if these people ran around praying over peoples computers and did it specifically to make fun of the Geek Squad, that would be legit.

Having the same logo on a legitimate enterprise isn't protected by parody/freedom of expression laws.

Re:Trademark

[John Hasler]

I don't think it matters if they offer different services.

It matters a great deal.

It would be the same as someone opening a seafood restaurant called Walleye-mart.

That might be grounds for a dilution claim depending on details since it would be being used to advertise a product. This guy, however, isn't selling anything.

Re:Orange and Black?

[Mr. Slippery]

The religious holiday is All Saints Day (Nov 1), not the evening before it.

The Christian holiday is All Saints Day. There are other religions, you know. Samhain, a religious holiday for many Neopagans based on ancient Celtic traditions, is October 31, or sunset on the 31st through sunset November 1.

Re:Trademark

[Belial6]

That logo on that car is designed to fool people, and it is for the purpose of offering services. In a best case scenario, the priest is hoping that people will see it, think it is 'Geek Squad', then do a double take and realize that it isn't. In a worst case scenario, some people may think there is an actual connection. Off the top of my head, I can think of a couple of large businesses that have an open religious connection. Chick-fil-a and In and Out Burger both have corporate policy surrounding religion. The first closes on Sundays, and the second puts bible verses on the bottoms of their cups.

The priest was intentionally trying to sell his services by associating them with Geek Squad. This is kind of what trademark is intended for. I know if I owned Best Buy, I wouldn't it want to be associated with what is frequently considered an international child molestation ring.