What’s particularly hilarious is that, at least from this story, it doesn’t sound like he’s trying to promote “God Squad” in any other way other than just having a decal on his car. Presumably, Best Buy would have to prove in a lawsuit that his infringement upon their trademark had caused them some sort of harm (and they’d probably have to put a dollar value on that). Good luck with that!

But this just makes me wonder what NBC had to pay to Best Buy in order to get away with the fictional “Buy More” and “Nerd Herd” logos on the hit series “Chuck”. If the answer is nothing, then you think Best Buy wouldn’t really have a case, having allowed NBC to violate the trademark in a similar way on a much larger scale.

Sorry folks, but Best Buy is right on this one. Copyright laws exist for a reason. A good message is no reason for violating them. Fr.Strand’s idea is clever, but maybe he needs to think of some other creative way of getting his message across.

best buy is right

trademark violation

the title of this article is disingenuous, intimating some kind of religious persecution

If you do a search on Google for “God Squad”, with the quotes, and limit it to images, today you get 14,700 hits, some of them exact replicas of the “Geek Squad” logo, down to the colors.  And many of these are by people making money off of the logo by putting it on T-shirts and other items.

It doesn’t sound like Best Buy is doing a very good job of protecting their logo.

I always thought that “imitation was the sincerest form of flattery.”  I think waht we have here is an insecure lower level executive who is terrified of his bosses.

George, Jake,
I cannot agree with you on this.  Looking at the picture, I see rather little resemblance between the Geek Squad cars at my local Best Buy and the beetle depicted.
If people can’t tell the difference between this priest’s car and a retailer, they need more help than a copyright infringement lawsuit will provide.

Besides, others have highlighted the numerous copyright infringements that Best Buy or others have tolerated.  If Best Buy can’t demonstrate appropriate legal actions they’ve taken against the various others, I have to think that this IS an act of persecution.

I don’t mean to disparage Fr. Strand in any way, since clearly he means very well, but Best Buy are in the right on this.  According to US law, if you own a trademark, and you fail to defend it, you can lose it.  A decent summary can be found on Wikipedia:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trademark#Maintaining_rights

Also, a trademark owner is not required to go after every infringement—just the high-profile ones: “It is not necessary for a trademark owner to take enforcement action against all infringement if it can be shown that the owner perceived the infringement to be minor and inconsequential. This is designed to prevent owners from continually being tied up in litigation for fear of cancellation.”

I think that if Fr. Strand hadn’t been driving around with the logo on his car, they probably wouldn’t have done anything.  But he himself admits that he’s often mistaken for the Geek Squad.  That’s definitely consequential infringement.

In fact, I was very impressed that Ms Baldwin said what she did.  She didn’t have to do that.  I’m no great fan of Best Buy, but I can’t help but be a little softer on them after that statement.

Sorry George, but while copyright laws exist for a reason, trademark laws might be more applicable. Forgive me if I just ignore your condescending attitude, and the fact you don’t know trademark from copyright, and rely instead upon my own experience litigating these matters.

These parody cases can be won.  It’s just a question of whether the good father would want to stick it out.  Sounds like he didn’t want to cause a stink.  Oh well, it would have been fun to win.

Hmm.  I think Best Buy has grounds here because the priest’s car DOES likely bear greater resemblance to the Best Buy cars due to the model of the car and MAYBE the paint job.  It may be unique in that sense, just enough to give Best Buy the right to pursue it.  Other uses of God Squad may escape due to being different enough in their own context as to create too little fuss.  Let’s say this were a representative of another faith tradition; I might be somewhat more picky about that.

Then again, I might not.
Trouble is, despite the similarity in the model of car, the oval shape, and the common “G”, I’m not at all convinced that I’d automatically see a connection, unless I saw Geek and God squad cars side by side.
Best Buy’s cars have black, white, and orange, with Geek Squad in funky lettering, and (I think) the best buy web address.  The priest’s car has funky lettering in oval, but appears to be almost all black, with the priest’s web site on the side.

Considering that the company hasn’t apparently asked the priests to remove either the web site listing or the white stripe in front, I have to question how similar the two really are.

And, let’s be honest:  This executive knows how to say some nice things, but she doesn’t strike me as being as concerned about it as she could be.  She’s still pursuing the effort isn’t she?

Don’t forget too, even if the law allows something, sometimes insisting on following the law is immensely stupid.

If Best Buy really is pursuing this because this particular infringement is so similar to their corporate identity, why not say so?
If I can do an internet search in 2 minutes, so can she.

At the very least, I think Best Buy would be well advised to reconsider this move, or at least provide greater explanation for why they’re pursuing this guy, but not others.

Right now, Best Buy earns some of my electronics/entertainment business because they’re close and available; CompUSA went out of business.  Even so, I may consider taking my business elsewhere unless Best Buy can demonstrate they aren’t simply picking on an easy target.
If I can expect this sort of attitude from them, perhaps I should take

Best Buy has decided to be Pass By! I will never shop there again and I suggest you don’t either!

It’s a parody case.  Could have easily been won by Fr. Strand, but he did the stand up thing to do which was not to take it to court.  Best Buy should be ashamed.  And that’s the truth folks.

>>>“This was a really difficult thing for us to do because
>>>we appreciate what Father Strand is trying to accomplish
>>>with his mission,”

No, it wasn’t difficult to do. Someone simply picked up the phone and called down the hall to the legal department and told them to go after the priest, church, or whomever was responsible. Corporate council then found out who it was and a paralegal fired off a form letter.

That was easy.

I agree with Fr. Strand not litigating as it’s not critical to his mission.  But it would have been nice of Best Buy to follow up with alternatives that wouldn’t violate their trademark. 
-
Even without the sticker, his car is a tool for Evangelization.

A story appeared in our local paper several years ago about a dry cleaning establishment called Ebony DryCleaning, founded around the time of World War II. Sometime in the late forties the owner received a cease and desist letter from Ebony Magazine for the same thing. A customer in the store at the time got the story and, being an attorney, advised that the owner ignore all letters with an Ebony Magazine return address.
About 50 years later, the owner’s daughter was going through her late father’s things and came across a packet of unopened letters from Ebony Magazine. They had continued throughout the fifties and finally petered out around 1965, becoming less frequent and less hostile as time went by. The popular local small business kept its identity, the big corporation upheld its rights, and everyone dies happy. Perhaps Father can do the same.

Best Buy is being childish and stupid. What this has to do with “Geek Squad”. “God Squad” has been around longer than “Geek Squad”. Let’s boycott Best Buy .....Again bashing the catholic church….

The “God Squad” sticker is a bit tacky, but hardly illegal.

Isn’t Best Buy a company that didn’t do “Merry Christmas” last year?

I have to side with Best Buy on this.  To be fair, the decal looks *exactly* like the Geek Squad logo, right down to the font.

Companies do have the right AND THE OBLIGATION to protect their intellectual property, and it’s not fair to them to say they have to let some violators go and prosecute others.  If a company is not vigilant in pursuing violations, it can lose the trademark.  This should not be taken as a reflection of Best Buy’s views on Catholicism, religion, this ministry, etc.

Protestants use similar tactics all the time on t-shirts and caps.  You never hear about corporations going after them.

Barrister,
Again, the problem I have here is that the logo may be similar, but the overall context of the whole car doesn’t strike me as being even close to identical.
And then again, if Best Buy is concerned about this one because it’s more similar to their’s than are most others, why not say so?  Their actions would make sense that way.

Right now, they merely look like they’re making an example out of a priest because they can.

Would that the Catholic Church were as stringent in its trademark usage enforcement as Best Buy, especially when less-than-Catholic institutions and individuals use the “Catholic trademark” inappropriately or undeservedly.

What narerow thinking by Best Buy.  I’m done going to Best Buy until they change their attitude ASAP.

Personally, for me it harkens back to Mod Squad.

he could make a case that it is a parody of the Geek Squad and therefore not a trademark infringement, especially since it doesn’t appear that he profit off the decal on the car.
Also, if Best Buy doesn’t go after all infringers, he could build his case off of that fact as well.

If they understand what the good Father is trying to do then there. is little reason to sue him is there? He is not in competition with best buy.
That’s because they want to look like saints while they do the work of the DEVIL….

jayeverett,
Easy does it.  I agree that Best Buy is being rather foolish with this and doing a poor job of explaining their rational, but doing the work of the devil?
I think that’s stretching it.

True, some of their media are quite less than moral, but all told, they’re a fairly decent company that sells electronic and entertainment goods.  If we intend to give them a hard time about their media, we need to also badger Hollywood and every other chain that sells those kinds of wares.  Picking on Best Buy on that ground doesn’t strike me as appropriate.

Let’s keep the debate fairly reasonable, shall we?

I bet there are a lot of graphic designers out there who could come up with a good God Squad decal and one that could be used by other priest and deacons as well.

I could see them thinking it was a trademark violation if his car was also the geek squad colors, or if the logo had the colors, but it doesn’t, so I don’t see why they’re making such a big stink. Call it free publicity.

Maybe they have a point and then maybe there are just too many lawyers.  They should have contacted Father directly and worked something out instead of a letter.  If I were BEST, I would have volunteered to build a new LOGO for him that works for both.  Is “similar” an infringement?

I’ve been done with Best Buy for years.  They have ABSOLUTELY no customer service and apparently no sense of humor either.  This is yet another reason for me never to enter a Best Buy again.

I have never seen a “Geek Squad” vehicle so I can’t compare logos.

With today’s hi-tech computers, it should be easy enough to create a unique logo in any case.

However, I know that corporations have sued for the rights to use a particular word.  This is why, I believe Best Buy will sue anyone who uses “best”, “buy” “squad” or anyone who even WEARS Best Buy colors.

I’m with Best Buy on this one. I don’t shop at Best Buy for other reasons, but I don’t see them at fault for anything here. I mean, what’s “creative” about stealing someone else’s idea? The logo is identical right down to the font. Think of A CREATIVE idea to spread your religious beliefs around, Father. Don’t steal someone else’s creative idea. If I took the Pepsi logo and painted my truck to look like a Pepsi vehicle, only instead of Pepsi it said the word for male anatomy, you better believe that Pepsi would have a problem with it. The message does not matter. The theft does. Thou shalt not steal, remember?

Geek Squad and Best Buy seriously need to reconsider its approach to social media. Best Buy was once my favorite store, and I mentioned it frequently on my YouTube channel (Nalts) in my videos seen by more than 150 million people. Then, as documented on a YouTube UncleNalts video (seen by 250K folks, a Geek Squad driver called the NJ police because I was videotaping its van. I was fined for reckless driving. Later Best Buy fired an employee for making a parody video about the iPhone. Now this. Meanwhile, Barry Judge (twitter.com/bestbuycmo) looks asleep at the wheel. Maybe he can get a job at Circuit City when he’s done suing priests, and facing another backlash. Best Buy, by going after a PRIEST? I am tempted to call for a boycott until the greedy electronics manufacturer apologizes and drops this.

Nalts, Best Buy did not fire an employee for making a parody video.  Best Buy temporarily suspended an employee for having two videos showing Best Buy logos and people in Best Buy uniforms insulting customers.  Once those videos were removed, the suspension was lifted.  This is all heavily documented in the media and I fear you are intentionally trying to mislead people with your accusations.

Also, as mentioned several times, when someone directly lifts your logo and modifies only a very small part of it in order to play off of your logo’s popularity and recognition, you have a legal obligation to defend your trademark and if you do not make a good faith effort at protecting that trademark, you lose the right to it.  This wasn’t parody because parody must make a statement on what is being parodied.  This was a misappropriated trademark, flat out.

Just wanted to set the record straight for you.

Anonymous,
If this is genuine trademark infringement, perhaps the entire Christian community ought to sue Best Buy for having misappropriated the term in the first place?

I don’t remember which term came first, but I’m thinking “God Squad” has been around since long before Best Buy.  Perhaps the Vatican ought to sue Best Buy for secularizing an old, quasi sacred term.

(Of course, I wouldn’t expect them to do that, but you get my drift?)

Father Strand made the right decision. This has nothing to do with faith and the Church. The same laws that protect Best Buy from copyright infringement also protect the Church.

John noted: “Again, the problem I have here is that the logo may be similar, but the overall context of the whole car doesn’t strike me as being even close to identical.”

It doesn’t matter what vehicle it was placed on, or even if it’s placed on a vehicle at all.  The design violates the trademark, and they have an obligation to pursue an end to its use.

Other folks mentioned the fact that the “(blank) squad” logo has been misappropriated on other products, shirts, etc.  I’m sure that’s true.  But don’t presume that a lack of public dialog on those violations means that the company is not doing something about it.  Most companies have entire legal departments dedicated to the issue.  My own company has a very well-known, high-profile trademark, and we’re busy pursuing violations.

I rarely shop at Best Buy for some reasons previously stated by others.  This is not, and should not be, one of them.

Yeah let’s all sue Best Buy for using the color yellow. Unless my records are incorrect, God did create yellow.

I think Best Buy is being the Worst Buy. I don’t like this at all; if it were anyone else they would think twice about doing it. It is all about the Roman collar.

Avoid Best Buy and their discrimination of Christians. if they can’t even say Merry Christmas who among Christians should shop there???

BOYCOT BEST BUY!

Barrister:
Even if Best Buy has the legal right and obligation to defend their trademark, they’re still pursuing this problem quite poorly.  Again, those things that’re legal, even legally required, aren’t necessarily wise to simply do without further explanation.
As the original article said, Best Buy currently has a major PR problem.

If Best Buy really means to pursue this the way you think….

Why not say so in the first place?

Why not say publicly, “Look, we know about other slogans, we know about other trademark issues.  We’re pursuing this one in particular because of X, Y, Z, and A reasons.”

As it is, the company’s overall approach seems to leave cricket chirps in the area of “Why this, not others?”
Essentially, they look like they’re picking on a priest because they can and the law seems to give it a veneer of justice.

So, just change the logo. What’s the big deal. There are many other ways we can display the same message.

The colors are not the same. Google “Geek squad car” and you come up with black and white beetles with orange logos on them. Every picture of this priest’s car is a blue beetle with a blue logo.

There are changes, but this kind of thing happens all the time. Just look the the options for Christian T-shirts, every logo under the sun is altered to have a Christian message.

While I can imagine that Best Buy is within it’s legal right, they aren’t in the right. The law SHOULD be to protect Best Buy from another company coming up with “Geeky Squad” or “Geeks Squad” or “Nerd Squad” and using their logo, hoping the similarity will bring them business.

well, the priest ADMITS that people have mistaken his car for the “Geek Squad” car. Parody notwithstanding, the fact that there was actual confusion seems to me to be enough to support a trademark infringement claim since a substantial likelihood of confusion is the legal standard for trademark infringement.  Sorry, folks, but Best Buy is right on this one.

Mike,
If you read the comment, the priest said his car has been mistaken for Best Buy’s at a GAS STATION, not anyplace important.  These are most likely occasions where the attendant catches a glimpse of something that looks fairly similar and makes a poor assumption.  If the attendant bothered to look more closely, he’d probably realize the mistake.

Again, two big mistakes that Best Buy makes with this one:
1.  This vehicle doesn’t compete against Best Buy in any way, nor does the priest appear to be attempting to bad-mouth the company.  I’m not even certain that Best Buy can prove any real effort to imitate their logo.
2.  Even if Best Buy could make a reasonable case, they’re PR dept didn’t do their job.  It would be VERY easy to state that they’re pursuing THIS particular case, but not others, primarily because of the apparent similarity between the logos.

This way, they simply look like they’re picking on a priest because they can insist the law says they must.

This issue is really a difficult to answer, each and every one of us have our point of view about this matter. Everyone has it’s own understanding about this news, it’s a matter of respecting each individual’s position about this.

Carl Ettering:  “...it’s a matter of respecting each individual’s position about this.”

Does that apply to religion too?  Are all religions “relative?”