Father Luke Strand of Holy Family Catholic Church in Fond du Lac, Wis. wasn’t looking for attention from corporate America; he simply wanted to promote vocations to the priesthood. Instead, he’s facing a cease-and-desist letter from Minnesota-based electronics retailer Best Buy over his Volkswagen Beetle.
The black VW sports a “God Squad” decal on the door that’s similar in appearance to the logo used by Best Buy’s Geek Squad computer technicians.
Best Buy says that Father Strand’s use of the logo violates its trademarks.
“This was a really difficult thing for us to do because we appreciate what Father Strand is trying to accomplish with his mission,” Paula Baldwin, Best Buy spokesperson, told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. “But at the end of the day, it’s bad precedent to let some groups violate our trademark while pursuing others.”
Father Strand mentioned the cease-and-desist order during the 9:30 a.m. Mass at St. Mary’s Catholic Church on August 8, but cannot discuss the details of the case.
Then-Deacon Strand, received the car in 2007 from Father Quinn Mann of the Diocese of Green Bay. Not only does the car sport the God Squad logo, but also the websites thinkpriest.org and cyexpeditions.org on the fenders. His license plate reads GODLVYA, and the very front of the Beetle has a white paint stripe to match his priestly collar.
“It stimulates a lot of conversation,” Father Strand told the Fond du Lac Reporter in 2009. “People don’t always know when the right time is to start a conversation about faith questions. The church is alive, young and vibrant. This is a new and creative way to bring the faith I love into everyday life.”
Blogger Brian Osborne, of Geek.com, said that Best Buy has “created a public relations nightmare…the kind that could only come as a result of a company suing a priest,” and that the company is now facing the “backlash” from its decision.
Baldwin said that Best Buy is working with Strand to try to alter the God Squad logo in a way that will still work for him without infringing on the Geek Squad trademark.
“We’re confident that together we’ll come up with a good solution for everyone,” said Baldwin. [Source]
Now if this priest started charging outlandish prices for minor spiritual tuneups and giving crappy service than I could see a case for copyright infringement. A priest offering services for free without trying to sell you an extended warranty will in no way get confused with the Geek Squad despite having a logon on a VW.
8 comments
Does he take more than five minutes to answer the phone?
THAT would be the clincher.
offering services for free without trying to sell you an extended warranty
Maybe that’s why they want him to change logos. Don’t want anyone associating high expectations of service with Best Buy.
You might think that they would WANT to be confused with God Squad.
Speaking as someone with experience in trademark law and worked for in-house counsel writing cease-and-desist letters just like this, I have to say I understand Best Buy’s predicament and it seems (at least from this blog post) that they’re being reasonable in trying to work out an alternate logo for Fr. Strand. Iconic trademarks like this are “stolen” for ironic purposes all the time, and it is definitely in the company’s best interest to try to bring focus back.
If it’s just one car, I’m not sure it’s worth Best Buy’s time. But I bet they have a form letter that they send anytime things like this are brought to their attention (and I guarantee it’s a paralegal somewhere deep in the bowels of headquarters who sent it… this didn’t come from the top). Typical MO is to send form letters out to anyone stepping over the line on the trademark, and just hope that a few of the transgressors don’t throw the thing in the trash.
I’m not a trademark law expert but I don’t understand why this parody could not be counted as a protected “Fair Use”. I agree it isn’t worth Best Buy’s time and certainly not worth the bad PR they are getting.
I thought trademark infringement only happened when the companies where in operating in a substantially similar portion of the market and the infringement was intended or at least could confuse the customers about the origin of the product.
I suppose it really just comes down to could the misuse of the trademark cause any kind of damage to the owner.
Even so, it is not like this parish is selling a similar service or in anyway competing with best buy on anything at all. I just don’t see how it harms or has the potential to harm Best Buy in any way. Though it still wasn’t a smart thing for the parish to do.
I was thinking the same thing as Miss Rebecca. It seems like BestBuy is trying to work with him so that he’s able to replace the logo. And I’m glad Father Strand isn’t being sued by whatever studio produced The Mod Squad. 🙂
The Baptist minister who lives across the street from me has a license plate saying “QUIT SIN”
The priest who used to say the EF mass around here (now in a nearby city) has the license plate “SACERDOS.”
Someone who attends my Byzantine Catholic parish has a license plate I really envy- ” IC XC NIKA. ”
Susan Peterson