Three Jewish organizations are battling an effort by the American Board of Missions to the Jews to obtain a federal trademark for the board’s slogan, “See Israel Through Jewish Eyes,” for board-sponsored tours of Israel. A trade mark would give the missionary group an exclusive legal right to use of the phrase.
Officials of the Jewish Community Relations Council (JCRC) of New York, the National Jewish Commission on Law and Public Affairs (COLPA) and the American Jewish Congress announced that their agencies had filed Notices of Opposition with the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board of the United States Patent and Trade Mark Office.
One notice of opposition was filed jointly by the JCRC and COLPA. A notice of opposition was filed separately by the AJCongress.
The opposition notice filed by the JCRC and COLPA asserted that the missions board was trying to foster its efforts at conversion of Jews to Christiarity through travel tour services for Jews visiting Israel.
CONTENTION BY JCRC AND COLPA
Malcolm Heinlein, JCRC executive director, and Dennis Rapps, COLPA executive director, said their opposition notice declared that the slogan is deceptive when used in connection with the trave tour service and could induce Jews to join such tours under the impression the tours were under Jewish auspices.
The notice of opposition for the JCRC and COLPA was filed by David Butler, a Washington attorney who is a member of COLPA’s Washington chapter.
The Jewish Telegraphic Agency was told that the missionary board is a multi-state operation, with offices in New York City, Chicago, San Diego, Phoenix, Orangeburg, N.Y., and Peoria, III.
The missions board was unavailable for comment. Spokesmen for the three Jewish agencies said they did not know precisely how the board reaches prospective Jewish tourists to enroll them in its tours.
The two agencies contended that refusal by the federal office to grant the requested trademark would deny the missions board an implicit government imprimatur and presumption of respectability which a trademark would confer.
They added that, as a result of their formal opposition filed with the Patent and Trademark office, the American Board of Missions would have to disclose much heretofore unavailable information about its program if it pursued the effort to get a trademark. The Board of Missions had been using the phrase for about three years before deciding to seek a trademark.
After the notices of opposition are processed, the Board of Missions will have 40 days in which to respond to the notices of opposition or be deemed to have abandoned its application.
BASIS FOR AJCONGRESS OPPOSITION
Will Maslow, general counsel of the AJCongress who filed the notice of opposition for his agency, said that notice charged the missionary group with using deceptive and misleading tactics to describe the nature of its travel services to Israel.
The AJCongress petition also charged that the trademark bid was deceptive because, if approved, it would bestow the appearance of an Israel tour operated by Jews primarily for Jewish travelers who are interested in a tour stressing Jewish history, religion and culture, thereby misleading Jews about the nature of the missionary group’s travel service.
Once a response to the notices of opposition has been filed and the issues joined, evidence and briefs will be submitted and a decision will be made by the Patent and Trademark Office. The losing side will have the right to appeal the decision to the Federal Court of Appeals in Washington.
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
