For at least two years, a priest in Fond du Lac, Wisconsin, had been rolling the streets of his town in a VW Beetle with the words “God Squad” stenciled on its door in a design reminiscent of the logo seen on Best Buy’s Geek Squad vehicles. Now the priest’s car is unadorned after the retail chain got wind of his wheels and issued a cease and desist order.
To avoid running afoul of Best Buy’s legal team, the priest removed the logo. However, one of his fellow men of the cloth thinks the boys in bright blue have gone a little overboard:
There was never any kind of formal God Squad group or organization. Father Luke and some friends simply decided to design a car that would act as a cool and fun way to bring our faith into the public. It’s just a conversation starter… 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.
In a statement to the press, a rep for Best Buy says it only issued the C&D after much deliberation and that they’re willing to help the priest rethink his logo:
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… We’re confident that together we’ll come up with a good (dare we say heavenly?) solution for everyone.
As always, what matters most is your opinion:
Geek Squad owners send cease-and-desist letter to God Squad [JSonline.com]
More From Consumerist
-
Why Do You Disapprove Of My Capitalist Kid’s Lemonade Stand?
-
There’s Always Publicity In The Banana Stand
-
Arsonists Torch Playground So 7-Year-Old Starts Lemonade Stand For Rebuilding Fund
-
9-Year-Old Boy Manages Makes $3,400 With Lemonade Stand To Help Out His Hometown Of Detroit
-
Boeing Using Potatoes As Stand-Ins For Human Passengers To Test Wi-Fi Signals
This falls under parody. The priest wants to help people and Geek Squad want your money. Two sorta opposite facts
Ok here’s my $0.02 on the issue. BBY had to defend their trademark, they had no choice. They sent the guy a C&D which is about as tame as it gets when dealing with lawyers. It’s basically them saying ‘please stop’. To all you commenting on parody: parody only protects you against issues with copyright and not trademark infringement. Plus there was no real commentary to fall under the parody guidelines.
From: about 15 mins in: http://www.620wtmj.com/podcasts/jeffwag … eo=pop&t=a
He admits he’s been mistaken for geek squad in the past.
http://www.jsonline.com/newswatch/100788204.html
He admits Geek Squad did inspire his car.
Same size, font, shape, general design of logo. Same vehicle, same main color of vehicle.
They had no choice but to tell the guy to stop. It doesn’t sound like they really wanted to but rather they had no choice.
I don’t like Best Buy, and I don’t like religion. I’d say I dislike them relatively equally. I have no dogs in this fight.
If Best Buy does not defend their mark, they risk losing it.
For gods sake, come up with your own logo – don’t steal other people stuff.
There’s two things here.
One the one hand, Geek Squad _HAD_ to sent that C&D letter. If you fail to vigorously defend a trademark, YOU LOSE IT. And once it’s lost, it can NEVER be reclaimed.
On the other hand, Trademark issues aside … I’m sorry, Churches don’t get a pass on the law. “Give unto Caesar what is his”, and all that.
Karma is a bitch Geek Squad. You figure when your job is to go around and screw people who don’t know any better into paying for things that any monkey and a service manual could do, you would want God on your side.
Its called parody and covered by 1st amendment.
If it was “boob” squad, then BestBuy could complain.
God Squad is more similar to Mod Squad, the ’70s cop show. Best Buy does have a right to defend its trademark with respect to its look and feel, though. They wouldn’t have a case if the colors and font changed.
I think the logo looks similar enough that Best Buy has a point. On another note, you used to be able to buy T-shirts at Christian supply stores, that spoofed candy logos but had religious text in place of the candy bar name. Anyone know if those are still available or if they had to stop making them for similar reasons?
there you have it folks best buy is going to hell
this boils down to trademark infringement or copyright infringement. As the BB rep said above, if they pursue one entity, but not another, they could possibly be in a legal battle to keep their trademark or copyright. I have a feeling that there is someone at BB that has a heart, or some form of morals and that is why they at least state they will be helping him redesign his logo.
Another way to do this, is license the “look” of the logo to the priest for a small cost. Maybe have corp ask the priest for $100k, and make a $99,999.95 donation/coupon to his parish? It could be a “settle out of court” deal, where the proceedings are sealed from the public.
It would be a win/win for both parties. BB keeps their “don’t use our logo” abilities, and the priest can go do the work he is trying to do.
Do a quick Google search for “God Squad” and you will find that it is not even vaguely original. I wonder if the website with the same name is due for an ominous letter? Or the others who seem to have hit upon this oh-so-clever riff on “Mod Squad”?
Am with the God Squad. For one, all their services are free!
I never thought I’d ever be siding with Best Buy, but I actually agree with them in this case–it’s not parody, and it doesn’t seem to fall within Fair Use guidelines.
Something tells me that Satan had to ice skate to work today, and that I should watch out for flying bacon…
I think best buy has legality on its side, because this looks very much like copyright infringement…..that being said, what’s legal isn’t always right. I would be absolutely shocked if this priest manages to cost best buy business or steal the geek squads livelihood.
On the other hand suing a church in the information age over your precious logo is a great way to convince the public that you are a douchebag corporation. If it were me I’d let the church run with it—-it’s free advertising and doesn’t risk a PR mess.
#8 – Thou shall not steal.
I’m not religious, but see nothing wrong with Fr Strand’s “God Squad” deal. Unless the souls he ministers to are electronic, then he’s not competing with BB and its Geek Squad. Leave the guy alone, fercryinoutloud. (I don’t dare say “Ferchrissake”!)
Wouldn’t this stand as parody and be held under First Amendment free speech law? Since it’s being used to gain attention and not for his own commercial use?
Similar to this but even more clear-cut as the priest wasn’t selling anything.
Regardless of your religious affiliation or aversion thereof, fair is fair.
Of course, he’s probably on shaky ground being that close to the original mark.
I was impressed with the language BB used to defend its decision. I don’t know enough about these laws to make any major contribution here, but given that the intention was to spark up conversations with the intent to ultimately share the message of Jesus with strangers on the street, I’m thinking BB could have let this one slip by. Clearly these aren’t people trying to ‘cash in’ on BB GS rep (hee hee hee, we all know their rep sucks anyways :^)))
One money making outfit against another and the one moving in on the others logo is tax exempt.
I am of the opinion that both are farcical and devoid of altruism. There can be no winner as anyone involved with either loses.
I think the main issue is that they use too many similar elements to the Geek Squad logo. The fonts are identical. The layout of the text is identical. The VW element might also be an issue, but you’d also have to check if they did a trademark of the logo being on a specific kind of vehicle as well. I’m not even sure that’s possible to be honest.
Certainly they can use “God Squad” on their car. I think they just need to tweak the logo so it’s not such a blatant copy of the Geek Squad logo and they should be ok.
This is probably just one of those ‘copyright dilution’ notifications. Pretty much par for the course.
Heh. I don’t believe in organized religion, and I admit this does seem like a desperate move to attract younger believers. But it’s kinda funny. They should’ve made up their own logo.
Maybe like a Super Friends thing with the Father, the Son and the Holy Space Ghost.
Leave Space Ghost out of this please.
Anybody who thinks that this does no damage to the Geek Squad trademark is a moron. It does, because the law says it does. Trademark law will penalize trademark owners for the slightest of non-policing. So while Best Buy in reality might not care, it has to care, because the law forces it to care. Blame the law, not Best Buy.
Best Buy should bankrupt the “god squad”, after which both squads can go down the toilet.
He’s perfectly entitled to use the name (different area of work, so trademark law wouldn’t seem to apply), but afaik the logo would class as a derivative work under copyright law and as such would require Best Buy’s consent
Hmmm.. I never seen a Geek Squad Beetle anywhere but on ads every time i see the Geek Squad they have the mini vans, the priest should go around in a van and do that… But then I just like being mean to big companies that like to bully
Oh God, this is simply more bad publicity for good old Best Buy! Just what that terrible company needs, more negative press! Can’t wait for Best Buy to close its doors!
It’s parody and he’s not making money off of it. I’m no copyright lawyer, but doesn’t that make it fair use?
Best buy is obviusley more afraid of losing money,,than they are of god. If the CEO of BEST BUY were a true christian than he would be happy that the priest logo resembled his logo. A true christian would forgive and forget. Not cease and desist. Shame on BEST BUY.
it’s not often that I side with Best Buy, but if they go after someone else who’s actually doing damage to their trademark this could be used as against them. The priest ripped of the whole thing from the logo to the VW.
Does Best Buy have a right to send a cease and desist order if I put ANY logo on my VW bug? Screw them!
I hate best buy but i think they did the right thing. i wouldnt want my business being associated with any one religion at the risk of alienating others.