Girl Scouts Sue Boy Scouts for Causing Confusion With Gender Neutral Rebranding

Nov 8, 2018 by Jill

by Leonardo Blair, Christian Post:

The Girl Scouts of the United States of America has slapped the Boy Scouts of America with a federal trademark lawsuit alleging that the organization’s gender-neutral rebranding campaign, pushing a plan to start admitting girls in 2019, is creating confusion and will “marginalize” the female organization and “erode its core brand identity.”

The lawsuit filed Tuesday in Manhattan federal court comes six months after the BSA announced a plan to drop the word “boy” from the name of their older youth program to help make sure “all youth are welcome,” including girls.

In their lawsuit, the Girl Scouts are seeking to block the Boy Scouts from using the term “Scout,” “Scouts,” “Scouting” or “Scouts BSA” without an “inherently distinctive or distinguishing term appearing immediately before it.”

“Since BSA’s announcement that it would admit girls to its core programs, GSUSA’s fears about the damage that would be caused to its trademarks and the mission those trademarks symbolize have been realized,” the complaint alleges, according to a Bloomberg report.

“Throughout the country, families, schools and communities have been told that GSUSA and BSA have merged, or even that GSUSA no longer exists. Parents interested in signing up for Girl Scouts programs have instead mistakenly signed up for the new girls’ programs offered by BSA,” the complaint continues.

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