The Mormon Stories logo next to official Church logos, taken from the lawsuit.
Posted on 08/25/2026 8:54:36 AM PDT by Cronos
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has filed a lawsuit against the ‘Mormon Stories’ Podcast and its creator, alleging that it unlawfully uses trademarked and copyrighted material.
On April the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints filed a lawsuit against Open Stories Foundation and John P. Dehlin, who operates the podcast ‘Mormon Stories’. The Church argues that they have used the name Mormon since its founding nearly 200 years ago and that Dehlin’s branding will cause some people to believe ‘Mormon Stories’ is associated with or endorsed by the Church.
“Defendants adopted a blue MORMON STORIES logo with a light-rays design prominently used by the Church, showing Defendants’ intent to capitalize on and increase confusion,” the lawsuit states. “Defendants’ logo was calculated to imitate the Church’s logos by using confusingly similar color, font, and other design elements.”
also alleges that they approached Dehlin and Open Stories Foundation about the supposed infringement and that the defendants agreed to make some changes. They argue that the defendants refused to include statements in podcast episodes to mention that they are not affiliated with the Church.
announced that it was moving away from the name ‘Mormon’ in 2018 and asked to be referred by its official name as “The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints”. However, they state in the lawsuit that the public continues to associate the word and branding of ‘Mormon’ with the Church.
Additionally, they state that they have used specific Light-Rays Design Marks in all official communications and should thus have common law rights to those symbols. They also have trademark registrations for many of their branding materials, including the ‘Mormon’ mark.
In the lawsuit, alleges that Mormon Stories has created their content by reproducing copyrighted materials from the Church for their own content, including images.
(Excerpt) Read more at abc4.com ...
The Mormon Stories logo next to official Church logos, taken from the lawsuit.
The Church claims that the podcast uses branding that will cause some people to believe ‘Mormon Stories’ is associated with or endorsed by the Church, including their previously blue logo.
Notably, the Church announced that it was moving away from the name ‘Mormon’ in 2018 and asked to be referred by its official name as “The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints”
At least the LDS isn’t trying to hide the fact that religions are actually businesses.
can someone be sued for using the word “Christian”?
Well, The Church of Jesus Christ . . .
Has been around way longer than 200 years.
I think they are infringeing on that.
Mormons are like Scientology. They sue people trying to tell the truth about their theology
True that.
Their founder was a criminal and horndog
sounds like they needed be taxed if they are going to play business games.
I still remember when they had advertisements on TV offering a FREE BIBLE for calling a number. The add ended with the words..”The Mormons!”
So I called and got a free bible.
Two weeks later I get another call offering me “another testament of Jesus Christ.” Book of Mormon.
I ask “Is this another gospel?”
The answer was..”YES!”
I then read the person what Galatians 1 said about “another gospel” and the curse.
Their response was...”WHAT’S GALATIANS?”|
Bible readers they are not.
Scientology tier legal harassment.
Scientology tier legal harassment.
Yeah, that's what I was thinking. That's after they changed the signage on their church buildings to enlarge the name "Jesus Christ", probably to make themselves appear more mainstream Christian:
My wife’s hairdresser was a Mormon until her father left the family and they were basically shunned. She said they studied the Old Testament and the BOM but rarely ventured into the New Testament.
When there were protests against Adult book stores a woman, who was a Mormon, wanted me to sign her petition and we got to talking.
I quoted 2 Peter 2:19
“They promise them freedom, but they themselves are slaves of corruption. For whatever overcomes a person, to that he is enslaved”.
She asked me where it was from. I showed her, I think she was kind of amazed. She never heard of it.
just change the name to “Moron Stories”; problem solved ...
“They sue people trying to tell the truth about their theology”
No they aren’t. They are suing them for trademark and copyrighted material. This has nothing to do with their theology. That would be trying to block the first amendment on speech. What they are doing compares to suing the farmer in the next farm because he has cows that put out the same milk as theirs and he sells it.
wy69
Yeah and a Christian church should sue them for confusion they cause by calling themselves christians.
That 2018 change in policy weakens their case. But the defendant may not have the resources to fight a legal battle with the LDS church.
These geniuses just tripled the amount of traffic to the site. Well done.
Media Letter26 June 2008 — Salt Lake City (http://newsroom.lds.org/additional-resource/media-letter)*The following is a letter from Elder Lance B. Wickman, General Counsel of the Church to publishers of major newspapers, TV stations and magazines. It was sent out on Tuesday, June 24, 2008.
Recent events have focused the media spotlight on a polygamous sect near San Angelo, Texas, calling itself the “Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.” As you probably know, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has absolutely no affiliation with this polygamous sect. Decades ago, the founders of that sect rejected the doctrines of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, were excommunicated, and then started their own religion. To the best of our knowledge, no one at the Texas compound has ever been a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
Unfortunately, however, some of the media coverage of the recent events in Texas has caused members of the public to confuse the doctrines and members of that group and our church. We have received numerous inquiries from confused members of the public who, by listening to less than careful media reports, have come to a grave misunderstanding about our respective doctrines and faith. Based on these media reports many have erroneously concluded that there is some affiliation between the two – or even worse, that they are one and the same.
Over the years, in a careful effort to distinguish itself, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has gone to significant lengths to protect its rights in the name of the church and related matters. Specifically, we have obtained registrations for the name “The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints,” “Mormon,” “Book of Mormon” and related trade and service marks from the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office and corresponding agencies in a significant number of foreign countries.
We are confident that you are committed to avoiding misleading statements that cause unwarranted confusion and that may disparage or infringe the intellectual property rights discussed above. Accordingly, we respectfully request the following:
- As reflected in the AP Style Guide, we ask that you and your organization refrain from referring to members of that polygamous sect as “fundamentalist Mormons” or “fundamentalist” members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
- We ask that, when reporting about this Texas-based polygamous sect or any other polygamous group, you avoid either explicitly or implicitly any inference that these groups are affiliated with The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
- On those occasions when it may be necessary in your reporting to refer to the historical practice of plural marriage in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, that you make very clear that the Church does not condone the practice of polygamy and that it has been forbidden in the Church for over one hundred years. Moreover, we absolutely condemn arranged or forced “marriages” of underage girls to anyone under any circumstances.
Stated simply, we would like to be known and recognized for whom we are and what we believe, and not be inaccurately associated with beliefs and practices that we condemn in the strongest terms. We would be grateful if you could circulate or copy this letter to your editorial staff and to your legal counsel.
We thank you for your consideration of these important matters.
Sincerely,
Lance B. Wickman
General Counsel
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