[Ip-health] Wall Street Journal: Red Cross Is Sued by J&J Over Signature Emblem

[Thiru Balasubramaniam]

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB118662527980592590.html?
mod=world_news_whats_news

Red Cross Is Sued by J&J Over Signature Emblem
By SALLY BEATTY and AVERY JOHNSON
August 9, 2007; Page A2

Johnson & Johnson filed suit against the American Red Cross and some of
its licensing partners claiming the charity misused the cross design
that is its signature emblem, which also appears on J&J's first-aid
kits and bandages.

The health-care products company alleges that the Red Cross licensed
the eponymous design to for-profit companies that sell medical products
-- such as first-aid kits and hand sanitizers -- and infringed J&J's
trademark. The suit was filed yesterday in Southern District Court in
New York.


In the suit, J&J asked the court to have all licensed products with the
red-cross emblem destroyed and to permanently enjoin all sales of
products bearing the emblem on first-aid, safety-preparedness and
related products. The New Brunswick, N.J., company also seeks punitive
damages and payment of its legal fees. J&J said it tried for several
months to resolve the issue with the Red Cross, but that those efforts
failed.

The Red Cross's new chief executive, former Internal Revenue Service
commissioner Mark Everson, fired back, calling the action "bizarre" and
"obscene." The Red Cross says all money it receives from the sale of
the consumer products in question "is reinvested in its humanitarian
programs and services."

The Washington, D.C., charity began working with business partners to
create first-aid, preparedness and related products bearing the Red
Cross emblem in 2004. "For a multibillion-dollar drug company to claim
that the Red Cross violated a criminal statute that was created to
protect the humanitarian mission of the Red Cross -- simply so that J&J
can make more money -- is obscene," Mr. Everson said. The Red Cross is
chartered by Congress to provide humanitarian aid but is otherwise an
independent agency.

The legal move carries risks for J&J's carefully cultivated corporate
image. Amid a boom in philanthropy, many big companies are racing to
join with big charities to burnish their reputations and appeal to
consumers. J&J has long enjoyed a reputation as a good corporate
citizen, whose approach is embodied in a credo that pledges the
company's primary responsibility "is to the doctors, nurses and
patients, to mothers and fathers and all others who use our products
and services."

The Red Cross has suffered its own headaches, including millions of
dollars in fines for inadequate attention to ensuring safety in its
blood-products unit and complaints from donors about how some of their
money is used. The organization completed a sweeping overhaul aimed at
resolving longstanding tension between its operating executives and its
oversight board, culminating with Mr. Everson's recruitment as chief
executive.

J&J said it has been using the symbol of a Greek red cross since 1887,
predating the chartering of the Red Cross. J&J trademarked the design
-- two intersecting red lines of equal length -- at least as early as
1906, the suit says.

According to J&J, the Red Cross only has the right to use the trademark
in connection with nonprofit relief services. J&J says in 1905,
Congress prohibited "the emblem of the Greek red cross on a white
ground" by organizations other than the Red Cross; J&J's suit says
since it used the cross before that date, it was exempt.

Write to Sally Beatty at sally.beatty@wsj.com3 and Avery Johnson at
avery.johnson@WSJ.com4
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---------------------------------
Thiru Balasubramaniam
Geneva Representative
Knowledge Ecology International (KEI)
voice +41.22.791.6727
fax +41.22.723.2988
mobile +41 76 508 0997
thiru@keionline.org