J&J has found itself in an interesting situation. They are suing The American Red Cross over trademark infringement. The Pharmalot blog has a good round up of the coverage this has generated, and the Red Cross themselves put out a very strong press release. Key quotes:
"For a multi-billion 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," said Mark W. Everson, President and CEO of the American Red Cross. ...All money the Red Cross receives from the sale of these products to
consumers is reinvested in its humanitarian programs and services."
Interestingly enough, the Red Cross doesn't deny in their press release that they are infringing on J&J's trademarks.
Obviously J&J did not want to do this. While US trademark law is confusing, the simple reality is if you don't protect your trademarks you lose them - and if J&J lets the Red Cross infringe on their trademarks they will lose them. J&J's blog has their point of view on this topic. Key quotes:
One of Johnson & Johnson’s oldest trademarks is the Red Cross design. We began using the Red Cross design and “Red Cross” word trademarks in the United States in 1887, predating the chartering of the American Red Cross.
It was disappointing to discover in recent months that the American Red Cross had started a campaign to license the trademark to several businesses for commercial purposes on all types of products being sold in many different retail and other commercial outlets........This action is in direct violation of a Federal statute protecting the mark as well as in violation of our longstanding trademark rights.
....unlike in decades past, the American Red Cross was not working through this issue with us. In fact, they had rejected our offer to turn to third-party mediators to find an agreeable resolution, even after we had indicated our willingness to use a mediator recommended by the American Red Cross itself.
According to J&J negotiatons to fix this problem failed, and they were forced to sue. Another interesting piece of this is J&J and the American Red Cross have a long history of working together, and J&J has donated over $5 million to the American Red Cross over the last 3 years alone.
Lot's of data stress the importance of social responsibility programs for both small and big businesses. Smallbiztrends has a good post covering this, and we've posted on this in the past. As J&J has found, these programs and relationships are not always easy. However, being socially responsible is becoming an increasingly important factor in attracting customers, business partners and employees.
Disclosure: I've done work for J&J over the last year. I have not (thankfully) been involved in this issue, nor had any contact with J&J related to this issue.
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