Be Prepared . . .

NPR: Girl Scouts Of The USA Files Suit Against Boy Scouts Of America

Girl Scouts of the USA wants to take Boy Scouts of America to court. The organization has filed a federal lawsuit accusing the Boy Scouts of trademark infringement.

This started last October, when the Boy Scouts said it would start allowing girls to join its programs.

That decision was strongly decried by the Girl Scouts. In a scathing letter released by BuzzFeed News, the Girl Scouts' National President Kathy Hopinkah Hannan accused the Boy Scouts' National President at the time, Randall Stephenson, of carrying out a "covert campaign" to recruit girls.

Covert campaign? Are you kidding me, after years of fighting to keep girls out?

Hannan stressed the century-old working relationship between the two organizations. "We are confused as to why, rather than working to appeal to the 90 percent of boys who are not involved in BSA programs, you would choose to target girls," she wrote.

When the Boy Scouts announced it would start to admit girls, it said that it made the decision after receiving requests for years. It also expected programs that serve the "whole family" would be more convenient and appealing to busy parents, single parents and some minority communities.

On Wednesday, the Boy Scouts said it is reviewing the lawsuit. In an emailed statement, it added: "We applaud every organization that builds character and leadership in children, including the Girl Scouts of the USA, and believe that there is an opportunity for both organizations to serve youth in our communities."

Yeah, don't say anything bad about the girls. It hurts their feelings.

In the complaint filed Tuesday in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, the Girl Scouts argue that the Boy Scouts' use of certain trademarks is "both new and uniquely damaging" to the organization.

One of the Boy Scouts' programs is called Scouts BSA, which caters to boys and girls 11-17 years old. The organization also recently launched a campaign called "Scout Me In." It's the generic use of "Scouts," without a gender marker, that the Girl Scouts object to.
"Such misconduct will not only cause confusion among the public, damage the goodwill of GSUSA's GIRL SCOUTS trademarks, and erode its core brand identity, but it will also marginalize the GIRL SCOUTS Movement by causing the public to believe that GSUSA's extraordinarily successful services are not true or official 'Scouting' programs, but niche services with limited utility and appeal," the complaint reads.

The Girl Scouts accuse the Boy Scouts of using misleading advertising that might cause families to believe the two organizations have merged and are now one and the same. For example, it says materials disseminated by the Boy Scouts feature a quote from the founder of the Girl Scouts.

And remember, the Boy Scouts accepted girls as members because of years of whining by feminists about the unfairness of Boy Scouts only accepting boys, and not girls. And that Girl Scouts was formed in an attempt to imitate the Boy Scouts, who should be suing Girl Scouts for infringing their brand. What "scouting" do the girls actually do?



Linked at Pirate's Cove in the weekly Sorta Blogless Sunday Pinup and links. This week the Wombat has returned, along with "Late NIght With Rule 5 Sunday: Nurse! Nurse!" (gic) and FMJRA 2.0: Back In The Saddle.