Nonprofits duke it out in court over brand identities

Thursday, August 12, 2010 by: Jonathan Benson, staff writer
Tags: nonprofits, brand lawsuits, health news

(NaturalNews) Susan G. Komen For the Cure and the Lance Armstrong Foundation's LIVESTRONG initiative are two of the most widely known nonprofit organizations publicly fighting cancer. But a recent Wall Street Journal article explains that these two groups, and others, are aggressively defending their brand identities from infringement by suing other nonprofit organizations.

According to the report, Susan G. Komen has taken legal action against numerous nonprofits for using the phrase "for a cure" in their names or for using the color pink, two hallmarks of Komen's brand. And the Lance Armstrong Foundation went after a foundation called "HEADstrong" for bolding the word "strong" and for using a gold color in its logo similar to the yellow used in "LIVESTRONG".

But many of the groups being charged with infringement say they had no idea that their brands were similar those of these major groups. Others contend that colors and simple, common phrases like "for the cure" cannot be owned by a single nonprofit.

"It is startling to us that Komen think they own pink," explained Mary Ann Tight of a breast cancer charity called "Kites for a Cure". Komen went after Tight's organization for using a similar name and color scheme, and suggested the group change its name to "Kites for a Cause".

But both Komen and LIVESTRONG allege that donors often get confused by similar branding and end up mistakenly donating to an entirely different charity.

"We see it as responsible stewardship of our donor's funds," explained Jonathan Blum from Komen's general counsel.

A group called the "Wounded Warrior Project" from Jacksonville, Fla. says this happened to them when donors mistakenly donated millions of dollars to "Wounded Warriors Inc." out of Omaha. A judge later ruled that a sizable portion of those donations be given back to the intended charity.

Sources for this story include:

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB100014240527...