According to the Milwaukee Journal, Best Buy has no love for the God Squad and is suing them for infringing on their trademark for the Geek Squad, even though the user of God Squad is a priest.
Father Luke Strand received a cease-and-desist letter about his car, a Volkswagen Beetle has oval door stickers that read “God Squad” .
“Paula Baldwin, senior manager for public relations at Best Buy, said the company aggressively defends its trademarks and notified Strand “because of the unfortunate similarities between their logo and ours.”
“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,” she said in an e-mail.”
Right we can only hope that similar actions by huge corporations against, non-domainers, like priests will wind up with some fundamental changes to trademark laws.
Best Buy corporate isn’t scared to slap anyone with a cease-and-desist letter; even if it’s a Messenger of the Lord.
Best Buy is sticking to their guns, although they said it’s “very difficult,” decision to make. We’re sure. Looks like it’s Geeks: 1, God: 0.
http://scallywagandvagabond.com/2010/08/father-luke-strands-god-squad-isnt-much-liked-by-retailer-best-buy/
So is this about a Sticker or a Car?
Neither story mentions a domain name, business or product offering “God Squad” services and the domain GodSquad.com is registered a Florida owner since 1997.
I’m just wondering what BB is suing for?
I forgot to add that GodSquad.com is owned by a ministry, but again, is in Florida not Wisconsin.
God Squad violates Geek Squad TM?
Then Best Buy is obviously laying claim to “Squad”
as their TM.
Please , please , please let Best Buy lose.
Reading the DuetsBlog from the link above, it looks like Best Buy is also laying claim for exclusive usage of “Geek”.
It’s just to surreal to me.
Retraction of my first comment.
I commented before reading the Milwaukee Journal
article. (Lesson learned.)
It seems Best Buy objected to the similarity of the logo design which is justified.
It doesn’t seem to be that Best Buy was objecting to the keywords itself.
I’m from the UK, and have never heard of Geek Squad – God Squad however, is a commonly used term to describe anyone pushing organised religion, and has been for a long time – before the internet.
That what America is good for–suing and suing.
Where the real product?
Bull
“”That what America is good for–suing and suing.”
“Where the real product?””
answer
Suing
Whoever within Best Buy signed off on this lawsuit
Will burn in Hell
For all eternity
😉
Seriously,
This is what happens when lawyers get disconnected from reality and any sense of restraint and decency
Will they sue for bomb squad?
.
“aggressively defend” don’t means “say/do stupid things”… 😐
clearly, GodSquad has nothing to do with GeekSquad and no one can claim to be the owner of the word “squad”… but big companies, with lots of money, always try to do that
it happened decades ago with IBM that tried to become the sole owner of the number “/2” after the launch of the PS/2 line of computers
it’s happened with Apple for the letter “i” and could happen again for the word “Pad”
so, I think that BestBuy will lose its sue vs…. God… 🙂
.
Best Buy corporate isn’t scared to slap anyone with a cease-and-desist letter; even if it’s a Messenger of the Lord.
Best Buy is sticking to their guns, although they said it’s “very difficult,” decision to make. We’re sure. Looks like it’s Geeks: 1, God: 0.
http://scallywagandvagabond.com/2010/08/father-luke-strands-god-squad-isnt-much-liked-by-retailer-best-buy/
downloadSquad.com
tvSquad.com
firingSquad.com
fashionSquad.com
actionSquad.org
startSquad.org
gobSquad.com
horrorSquad.com
pteSquad.com
parentingSquad.com
artSquad.com
i-Squad.com
sambaSquad.com
murderSquad.co.uk
scifiSquad.com
dropSquad.com
vandalSquad.com
hitSquad.com
thehitSquad.com
drum-Squad.com
mosquitoSquad.com
ltvSquad.com
etc. etc. etc.
could BestBuy sue ALL them???
These people are idiots.
Instead of playing the churchyard bully, here’s an alternate strategy they might have pursued:
Contact Father Luke, point out the similarity in the logos…and then license it to him for $1 a year while making a decent donation to his seminary and community center.
Then have your PR people put the story out and reap $millions in free, positive publicity, while associating your company with God!
But I guess they were worried about losing the hardcore atheist market for HDTVs.
Maybe the creators of Mod Squad —
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Mod_Squad
should sue Best Buy for infringing on their trademark. The show aired from 1968-73, way before anyone even imagined that Geeks might walk this planet.
I have it on higher authority that God will file an amicus brief 😉
Michael, what kind of changes to the TM laws would you like to see implemented
JS
You will find some of those answers in this post
http://www.thedomains.com/2010/08/14/why-is-selling-ads-on-trademarks-ok-for-google-but-not-for-domainers/
Phil, I’m thinking that the mayonnaise maker (Best Foods) should be hard after Best Buy after this…
Best Buy’s trademark (by use–they way it is supposed to be) is thiefsquad
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,191593,00.html
“A Texas software company sued Best Buy Co. Inc. (BBY) in federal court on Tuesday, alleging that the nation’s largest consumer electronics retailer was using unlicensed versions of its diagnostic equipment.
In response, a U.S. District Court granted Winternals Software LP’s request for a temporary restraining order.
The lawsuit by Austin-based Winternals alleges employees of Best Buy’s computer-repair subsidiary, Geek Squad Inc., have been using pirated versions of the software since talks on a commercial licensing agreement broke off.”
First off, nobody is suing anybody, and the letter was about the overall logo design, not the use of “God Squad” per se.
Folks who wail like a stuck pig over a silly c&d letter, as if some cosmic injustice has been committed, are a dime a dozen. No change in the law is going to stop silly c&d letters, as long as there is a First Amendment. Attorneys have the same rights to say dumb things as anyone else.
But the reason these letters get sent is that, sooner or later, some joker starts a computer repair service copying the logo, and defends on the basis that rights in the logo have been eroded because “some other guy was also using a similar logo”. So, TM owners build up backfiles of silly c&d letters as evidence of enforcement, to counter that sort of defense.
The priest’s use is a defensible parody, and nothing is ever going to become of the situation.
Carrier (air conditioning and heating) & Ford got into a pissing match several years ago because both had blue ovals and white lettering.
At the time I was doing contract work for Carrier all over North America and admittedly when I saw the logos I was regularily confused.
Problem with Best Buy is that I do not even know what the geek squad logo is – therefore it cannot be that strong like a carrier / ford logo – which makes Best Buy bullies.
J.B. +1
How about a scanned copy of the Complaint or a docket no.?
I guess all “fact-checking” on the internet is DIY.
Inflammatory headlines are great for grabbing readers’ attention.
if they win this sue… did they use the slogan “BestBuy, more power than God(squad)” ? 🙂
What is the e-mail of The New God Squad?
Kathy