Filed under: Truck, Government/Legal, Chrysler, Dodge
About the same time Chrysler and Fiat executives were running through a marathon eight -hour look into the future with the world’s automotive journalists, Pentastar lawyers were working over the principal at Lake Mary High School in Lake Mary, Florida. You may be asking yourself what Chrysler lawyers would want with principal Michael Kotkin when, just six months earlier, The Pentastar needed billions of taxpayer dollars to exit bankruptcy. Good question, for sure, but the answer appears to be pretty lame.
Moto Bullet reports that Chrysler’s legal department has been all up in Kotkin’s grill because the school’s logo is a near-perfect match for the Dodge Ram logo. Team Pentastar ordered has the school to replace the company’s favorite goat head as the school logo or risk having to drive a Sebring head into court. Chrysler lawyers even have several photos of the logo being used at the school in several different spots. The Seminole County School District has decided that the logo isn’t worth an expensive legal battle, so the school, ranked in the top 1.4 percent nationally for academics, reportedly has until June 15 to remove it from the premises. But while avoiding court will likely save the district plenty of money, the school won’t get out of this mess scot-free. Removing the horned-head from the school’s gym floor alone will reportedly cost the school (read: local taxpayers) $15,000, or roughly the cost of a new science book for about 300 kids.
We don’t want to pretend that we’re experts on branding rights and corporate logos, but we just can’t see what the harm is to Dodge if the brand and the school share the logo. After all, we’re assuming the school isn’t going to start making a competitive truck in wood shop. Principal Kotkin is still putting a positive spin on the situation, saying that Chrysler’s actions have “galvanized my school,” but unfortunately for Team Pentastar, the school’s new battle cry sounds something like “I’ll never buy a Chrysler as long as I live.”
UPDATE: The Chrysler Group got in touch with Autoblog to tell its side of the story, which you can read after the jump.
[Source: Moto Bullet]
Continue reading Report: Chrysler legal turns into schoolyard bully over use of Ram logo *UPDATE
Report: Chrysler legal turns into schoolyard bully over use of Ram logo *UPDATE originally appeared on Autoblog on Sat, 20 Feb 2010 15:22:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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