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More Brilliant PR from Rockstar: Company Sues a Charity

More Brilliant PR from Rockstar: Company Sues a Charity

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The thing is, if I was under an investigation from the ratings board and the federal government, Hillary Clinton was lambasting me in front of the entire nation, I had just predicted a loss of millions of dollars, and I was public enemy number one to almost every parent in America, I would not take this as an opportune time to sue a charity.

Apparently, this logic is lost on Rockstar who has decided to sue a Boston charity that gives free musical instruments and free private music lessons to kids who cannot otherwise afford them. Why, you may ask? The charity is called Rawkstar and uses a star in it’s logo.

Rawkstars made a successful trademark application in 2004. After this, trademarks are “published for opposition” for thirty days. During this time, concerned parties have the opportunity to file a challenge.

Proving themselves to be as good-natured as their reputation suggests they are, Rockstar was the only company to file a lawsuit against the charity. They say that using the star in the logo is misleading. They believe this would lead Rockstar to “suffer damage and injury…by the resulting confusion of the trade and public.” But to what damage and injury is Rockstar exactly referring? I think having its name mistakenly related to charity may be better PR than anything Rockstar is doing for itself right now.

The charity doesn’t believe Rockstar will win its case, but is concerned about the costs of a lawsuit. “We’re staffed by volunteers, and our bank account has just a few thousand dollars. It’s tough to commit a significant percentage of our resources to a legal battle,” Jonathan Jacobs of the charity told the Boston Globe.

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