Best Buy Threatens Priest Over His God Squad Parody; How Does God Feel About Trademark Law?
from the god-vs.-the-moron-in-a-hurry dept
Whoo boy. Apparently Best Buy, owners of the "Geek Squad" brand has prodded God by sending a cease-and-desist letter to a priest who has set up a "God Squad" car that does, in fact, look remarkably similar to the infamous Geek Squad VW Beetles:Still, it does make you wonder if there's any actual likelihood of confusion. While this may get some attention, is anyone actually going to think that the priest is somehow associated with Best Buy? Does Best Buy's trademark even cover religious services (beyond the ever popular religious debates on operating systems?). In a legal battle between God and a moron in a hurry, who wins? And, most importantly, does it even make sense to antagonize someone obviously doing something like this for the fun of it? I recognize the traditional trademark lawyer response that a company "has to protect its trademarks," but that always ignores that there are other, much more friendly options.
In the meantime, if we're talking about God and intellectual property, it seems worth re-running the Mimi & Eunice cartoon on the topic:
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Filed Under: geek squad, god squad, trademark
Companies: best buy
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Silly question...
The only two possible correct answers to this question are Chuck Norris and Mike Ditka, depending on which part of the country you're in....
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Attribution!
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So, an idiot in a hurry could easily misinterpret the logo. That fact that it is on a beetle makes it even more likely.
Related link.
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A lot of people (especially morons in a hurry) think computers are magic.
so yeah, I can see some confusion between the two.
yeah... god is free, but the middlemen (priests) need paid!
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But at the same time if you don't know the difference between who to call for technical support and who to call for spiritual guidance then you are the new definition of fail. Not just an epic fail I mean if I met someone who made this mistake I would personally take their picture and sumit it to Urban Dictionary under the heading fail, if it were possible. (But I think we all agree that its better that Urban Dictionary does not do photo submittions.)
If I were God Squad I would just change the design of the logo and call it a day.
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Nah, a Jihad/Crusade is a better course of action....
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Well its not like the Knights of the Templar have been up to anything special for the last 900 years...
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Depends on what you want to believe. Just because you haven't heard about them doesn't mean they and/or their descendents haven't been active. Let's not forget that they're basically the fathers of modern banking....
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If that's the case then Best Buy better be careful becuase from what I understand the Templar are no f'n joke when comes to dealing with the enemies of God.
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There is a reason that trademarks are specific to an industry - you cannot really confusingly purchase something from the wrong company if they do not sell the same thing.
I suppose, you could argue, that lots of people pray that their computer will work again, but I think BestBuy may have trouble making that stick.
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Not the First
Guess sales at Best Buy must be on the decline since they now resort to ridiculous lawsuits.
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I'll suggest that the new logo include a silhouette of a guy with an afro...
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It could very well be that Best Buy doesn't want to be associated with a religious group? I don't know... they don't seem to have scruples about associating with anti gay legislators! Maybe God should have made some favorable commandments for large blue retail industry...
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God and "Creativity"
The "church" has been doing this for a long time. Grabbing something some one else created, spinning it slightly to use for evangelism, and calling it creative. There's nothing creative about it, it's a blatant rip off.
Sure you can argue fair use till you're blue in the face, but the fact remains there is nothing creative here. Coming up with an original idea is not easy. But to rip an idea off, and call it "creative" is not only stealing, it's a lie as well.
I'm all for fair use and openness, but in a way, I hope Best Buy sues this guy into oblivion. Maybe it would cause other people in the "church" to pause for a moment and come up with an original thought rather than simply ripping someone else off.
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Lame... but pretty sure it's still parody.
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Or as I like to call them: corporate secular humanists
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No Wonder Best Buy prices are so high...
As far as confusion goes, is anyone going to call up the church to fix up their computer? Is anyone going to call Best Buy to have their sins absolved? You can have your opinion on whether or not you like the church using parodies to gain attention from pop culture, but I don't see a legal issue with it at all. It just sounds like Best Buy is wasting even more money to keep their prices obnoxiously high.
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Best Buy the company of . . . .
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"[Best Buy's spokesperson] said Best Buy is working with Strand to alter the God Squad logo in a way that it will still work for him without infringing on the Geek Squad trademark.
"'We're confident that together we'll come up with a good (dare we say heavenly?) solution for everyone,' she said."
Where are you getting that there was anything aggressive or unfriendly at all in the letter?
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If any of them were around before the Geek Squad they should sue Geek Squad.
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