John Dehlin is thinking about bringing Mormon Stories back

[falafel]

Where's Lost Student when you need him?

My understanding is that he lives in southern Idaho. Come to think of it, you or RC might be the best ones to check on him. Can you?
Thanks.

[Lost Student]

I see that I've been summoned, although I can't really add anything to the conversation because I haven't looked at the complaint or gotten familiar with the conflict. The summary that Donuthole posted from FB is plausible.

[Pelado]

I see that I've been summoned, although I can't really add anything to the conversation because I haven't looked at the complaint or gotten familiar with the conflict. The summary that Donuthole posted from FB is plausible.

Good to see you here! Don't be a stranger!

[Applejack]

My suspicion is that they aren't after damages, but more injunctive relief. If winning on infringement forces him to stop using the word Mormon, I think they are satisfied with that. (FWIW, I don't know if winning on infringement would force that).

You are undoubtedly right that the church is after injunctive relief. But that just raises the issue of why they didn't raise dilution (tarnishment). If the church is after an injunction on the icons (likely) and use of "mormon" (unlikely, IMO), it would need to prove (1) trademark infringement AND (2) that equity supports an injunction (eBay). It is that second part that will be an uphill battle. To be fair, the church might win on the equities, but it is going to have to show that they didn't delay filing (how long has Dehlin been running his show/using the icons?), that they will be harmed by the continued use of the trademarks in a way that money cannot compensate for (like they will lose members from the continued use of the icons), etc. Again, I think they might be able to convince a judge of these things, but it will be hard to do so.

Much easier, IMO, would be the tarnishment claim in which you are not arguing that consumers are choosing the off-brand use of the tradmark (Dehlin), but rather that even though people can tell the difference between the church and mormon stories, the church's TMs are tarnished or blurred by this association with Mormon Stories. Much easier to win this case AND to get an injunction against future use, I would think.

But I assume the folks at Foley have thought thru this more than I have.

[Pelado]

You are undoubtedly right that the church is after injunctive relief. But that just raises the issue of why they didn't raise dilution (tarnishment). If the church is after an injunction on the icons (likely) and use of "mormon" (unlikely, IMO), it would need to prove (1) trademark infringement AND (2) that equity supports an injunction (eBay). It is that second part that will be an uphill battle. To be fair, the church might win on the equities, but it is going to have to show that they didn't delay filing (how long has Dehlin been running his show/using the icons?), that they will be harmed by the continued use of the trademarks in a way that money cannot compensate for (like they will lose members from the continued use of the icons), etc. Again, I think they might be able to convince a judge of these things, but it will be hard to do so.

Much easier, IMO, would be the tarnishment claim in which you are not arguing that consumers are choosing the off-brand use of the tradmark (Dehlin), but rather that even though people can tell the difference between the church and mormon stories, the church's TMs are tarnished or blurred by this association with Mormon Stories. Much easier to win this case AND to get an injunction against future use, I would think.

But I assume the folks at Foley have thought thru this more than I have.

can their petition be amended to include the infringement argument?

[Applejack]

can their petition be amended to include the infringement argument?

Sure. But there must have been some strategy behind not including it (one would hope).

[MartyFunkhouser]

Bless your heart, John.

While asking the mediator to wave in front of us (but not show us) a $2-3 million lawsuit….fully drafted and ready to be filed (basically holding a financial gun to our heads)….the LDS Church demanded that we change our logo to this. Not joking. They even specified that the font size had to be the same for all the words in the logo, and what fonts we couldn’t use. This was a big part of what killed our first mediation attempt. And then the church went on to mislead its own members in a public press release that the reason mediation failed was because we wouldn’t adopt a disclaimer…WHICH WE DID ADOPT. Perhaps this is an example of what happens when you let lawyers run “Christ’s church.” And perhaps this is why sexual predators like Wade Christofferson are re-baptized after abusing children, their membership records are sanitized, they end up in multiple bishoprics…and eventually abuse more children. We need more school teachers and women in the Q15…not more lawyers.

[arizonaute]

he really is something .....