Wal-Mart loses ‘Wal-Ocaust’ lawsuit
March 25, 2008 at 11:04 am by Scott Freeman in NewsTwo years ago, we wrote about Charles Smith of Conyers and how his dislike of Wal-Mart had inspired him to create “Wal-Ocaust” T-shirts that he sold through the Internet. Smith had sold only one shirt (for $5.10) when the retail behemoth sent him a cease and desist letter that claimed he was infringing on the company’s trademarked symbols.
Smith enlisted Public Citizen — the consumer advocacy foundation started by Ralph Nader — and the Georgia chapter of the ACLU, and sued Wal-Mart for infringing on his right to free speech.
Last week, a federal court judge in Atlanta ruled in Smith’s favor. The court found that Smith’s T-shirts — which also include a “Wal-Qaeda” logo — are a parody and that no serious person could mistake a “Wal-Ocaust” symbol with the actual Wal-Mart smiley face icon.
“The terms ‘Walocaust’ and ‘Wal-Qaeda’ are clearly a play on the famous Wal-Mart name,” U.S. District Judge Timothy C. Batten, Sr. wrote in an 87-page decision. “The fact that the real Wal-Mart name and marks are strong and recognizable makes it unlikely that a parody — particularly one that calls to mind the genocide of millions of people, another that evokes the name of a notorious terrorist organization, or even one that simply refers to ‘Freedom Haters’ — will be confused with Wal-Mart’s real products. “
Wal-Mart complained that it was offended by being compared to Nazis and Arab terrorists. But that argument worked against them. “Indeed, as Wal-Mart has argued, by evoking the Holocaust and Al-Qaeda, Smith’s concepts are not merely unflattering, but veer toward the outrageous and offensive,” the court ruled. “This actually falls in Smith’s favor, as courts have held that the more distasteful and bizarre the parody, the less likely the public is to mistakenly think that the trademark owner has sponsored or approved it.â€
The ruling also contained an amazing piece of trivia: Hormel Foods once sued Muppet creator Jim Henson because he created a character named “Spa’am.” They lost that case, too.
Click here to visit Smith’s website.
March 30th, 2008 at 10:54 pm
Another idiot blaming a retail store for Americas woes. When the hell will these people focus on the real reason America is loosing jobs. The government creating such a tax and red tape burden on business and industry that it is cheaper to leave the USA and import its goods than continue to be based here. Also, I have lived in several places where Wal Mart single handedly turned the economy around by CREATING hundreds of jobs, attracting new stores, selling goods and services nobody locally was doing and revitalized blighted property that sat underutilized for a decade. If you cannot compete, adapt your business. My towns smaller stores that survived did it by offering goods Wal Mart didn’t. What is so hard about that?
March 30th, 2008 at 11:08 pm
They all forget that Wal Mart was the original small town store.
WalMart gets grief about their benefits and Starbucks is heralded, yet WalMart has a higher PERCENTAGE of employees receiving health benefits than Starbucks. Not total employees, percentage of total workforce. I bet a lot of people on this site wold have lost that bet.
They aren’t perfect, but they aren’t evil either.