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Wal-Mart In Court Fight Over 'Wal-ocaust' T-Shirts
WKMG-TV NEWS ^ | 3-8-2006

Posted on 03/08/2006 11:10:15 AM PST by Cagey

ATLANTA -- A Georgia man has filed a lawsuit against Wal-Mart in federal district court in Atlanta in a fight over his T-shirts that compare the retailer's business practices to the Holocaust.

Charles Smith has been marketing shirts that read, "I (heart) Wal-ocaust" T-shirts. Wal-Mart filed a cease-and-desist order in an attempt to make him stop printing the shirts.

The company said Smith is engaging in trademark infringement. It has threatened to sue Smith if he continues to display the logos on his Web site and to print them on his products.

The 48-year-old Smith is a computer repairman and said he has no deep connection to the company. But he claims using the logos is a free speech issue.

Smith said he came up with his anti-Wal-Mart logo after conversations with a customer and an employee who both had bad experiences with the retailer.

He designed his first logo in July. One shirt -- with "Wal-ocaust" printed above an eagle and a smiley face sold on Nov. 16 and netted Smith $5.10.

He said if the court sides with him, he will use any profits to pay his legal fees and for continued production of the products.

Wal-Mart spokeswoman Sarah Clark said Smith is infringing on the company's trademark and also "making an offensive association between Wal-Mart and one of the greatest tragedies of the past century."


TOPICS: Business/Economy; Government; US: Georgia
KEYWORDS: hippietrash
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To: AppyPappy

You mean Walmart doesn't have potential employees strip naked and run around to prove they are healthy enough to work and earn their keep?


21 posted on 03/08/2006 11:26:31 AM PST by WV Mountain Mama (I don't need to visualize whirled peas. I'm a mom, I've SEEN them.)
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To: eraser2005

"Of course, who is Wal-Mart to complain, after their book-burning ads?"

Uhh, I'm pretty sure that Arizona/So.Cal marketing guy was canned by Wal-Mart, like almost immediately after that LOCAL incident for which Wal-Mart immediately apologized. You can blame Wal-Mart for that all you want but the only action they had in the matter was firing the guy who did it and apologizing for his actions.

Don't let me mess up your Wal-Mart bash, though.


22 posted on 03/08/2006 11:26:59 AM PST by L98Fiero (I'm worth a million in prizes.)
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To: eraser2005

Thanks for the links.

Someone sure was asleep at the wheel, when that ad was approved.


23 posted on 03/08/2006 11:28:01 AM PST by Mrs.Nooseman
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To: Cagey

I don't think Wal-Mart has a leg to stand on. Whatever one thinks of the shirts' message, they look to be well within the bounds of legally-protected parody and satire.


24 posted on 03/08/2006 11:28:14 AM PST by steve-b (A desire not to butt into other people's business is eighty percent of all human wisdom)
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To: WV Mountain Mama

Don't give them ideas.


25 posted on 03/08/2006 11:28:47 AM PST by Alouette (Psalms of the Day: 44-48)
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To: WV Mountain Mama

LOL.
That, my Dear, is a myth.

Although I like the ball and chain myth better.;)


26 posted on 03/08/2006 11:30:11 AM PST by Mrs.Nooseman
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To: steve-b

At least it wasn't a photo of Sam Walton with a bomb on his head. The way some people behave about the place you'd think it was some kind of religious experience shopping there.


27 posted on 03/08/2006 11:30:35 AM PST by cripplecreek (Never a minigun handy when you need one.)
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To: WV Mountain Mama; Mrs.Nooseman
You mean Walmart doesn't have potential employees strip naked and run around to prove they are healthy enough to work and earn their keep?

Almost!

28 posted on 03/08/2006 11:32:20 AM PST by Cagey (You don't pay taxes - they take taxes. ~Chris Rock)
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To: Alouette

Walmart is the largest private employer in our state (nothing to brag about, just a fact). I don't understand why people love to hate them so much.


29 posted on 03/08/2006 11:32:34 AM PST by WV Mountain Mama (I don't need to visualize whirled peas. I'm a mom, I've SEEN them.)
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To: Tulane
"Wal-Mart will probably lose. Trademark infringement only if peole would reasonably confuse the two...man is entitled to his stupid, leftist driven satire."

Yes, but central to trademark law is you have to show that you are actively defending your mark or you will lose control over it. See "Aspirin", "Kleenex", and "Xerox" for examples of how and how not to do this.

30 posted on 03/08/2006 11:33:04 AM PST by FreedomCalls (It's the "Statue of Liberty," not the "Statue of Security.")
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To: Mrs.Nooseman

I don't think it is a myth, I clearly remember seeing footage of that during an Auschwitz commeration in the past year or so. I will have to check my Dachau book to see if there is anything in there about it. I don't know what the ball and chain thing is?


31 posted on 03/08/2006 11:34:52 AM PST by WV Mountain Mama (I don't need to visualize whirled peas. I'm a mom, I've SEEN them.)
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To: Cagey
Phony "outrage", Islamonazi style, to shut up the opposition. ADL, if they knew the meaning of the word, should be ashamed.

However, Wal-Mart and the ad agency should have known that only lefties can toss around the Nazi comparison with impunity.
32 posted on 03/08/2006 11:37:59 AM PST by ApplegateRanch (Islam: a Satanically Transmitted Disease, spread by unprotected intimate contact with the Koranus.)
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To: cripplecreek; All
I couldn't agree more.

Looks like some of the people that like to bash WAL-MART should read the history of Sam Walton and his accomplishment in live.

Here is something that might be surprising to some here.

Presidential Medal of Freedom Recipient Sam Walton

http://www.medaloffreedom.com/SamWalton.htm

33 posted on 03/08/2006 11:42:45 AM PST by Mrs.Nooseman
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To: Mrs.Nooseman

Sam was a good man.


34 posted on 03/08/2006 11:44:45 AM PST by cripplecreek (Never a minigun handy when you need one.)
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To: Cagey
LOL.

That picture cracks me up.

We actually had that picture posted on our bulletin board in the lunch room.Our Store manager hung it there.
35 posted on 03/08/2006 11:44:53 AM PST by Mrs.Nooseman
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To: WV Mountain Mama
I meant this in reference to WAL-MART employees.

In the Holocaust it happened.:)

Ball and chain was a comment by one of the Anti-WAL-MART FReepers a while back.

He/she was meaning that all WAL-MART employees are Slaves.
36 posted on 03/08/2006 11:48:02 AM PST by Mrs.Nooseman
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To: cripplecreek

Yup ,he sure was.


37 posted on 03/08/2006 11:49:01 AM PST by Mrs.Nooseman
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To: Cagey
I see that ad as Wal-Mart saying "Never Again". Nothing is even remotely Anti-Semetic I would think that most Jews would be against Nazi style book burning.

OTOH: This ad would be perfectly acceptable if sponsored by Move-On and talking about teaching evolution.

38 posted on 03/08/2006 11:56:18 AM PST by Mike Darancette (In the Land of the Blind the one-eyed man is king.)
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To: sam_paine

I actually agree with the book-burning ad too. I think it makes a very valid point. Still, the decision to use Nazi imagery was not the most sensible choice, and definitely should have been changed to something less emotionally charged.


39 posted on 03/08/2006 11:58:16 AM PST by timm22
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To: Mrs.Nooseman

OK! Sorry! :)


40 posted on 03/08/2006 12:01:09 PM PST by WV Mountain Mama (I don't need to visualize whirled peas. I'm a mom, I've SEEN them.)
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