Seems petty, doesn't it?

I read today that big pharmco Johnson & Johnson are suing the American Red Cross for using a Red Cross. Read that again. I am very pro- ARC, so that may have some across biased. Let me use their words: Red Cross sued for use of cross emblem. I gotta say, I think this is stupid, and super bad public relations. See, the American Red Cross (going forward I'll just call them ARC for brevity) is a non profit organization. They make NO money at the end of the day because they spend it all saving lives.

Also, ARC was founded before Johnson & Johnson... so nice try on that. To be fair, the J&J does have a patent on the red cross icon. However, they allow the ARC to use it for publicity. See, the ARC gets no money from the government. Not a single penny is given to the Red Cross for anything. Every cent of their budget is from donations. It seems to me that the J&J lawsuit is meritless and malicious.

So, how do the suits at J&J spin suing a non profit public health and safety company? They say they are good friends of the ARC, and big donaters:

Johnson & Johnson noted that it had contributed $5 million over the past three years to the Red Cross and will continue to make donations.

Really? So, you aren't a bunch of scum sucking bottom feeding lawyers bent on destroying all that's good? Wait, wait, you are. Read this, which was two sentences later:

The Red Cross said that many of the products in question were part of health and safety kits, and that profits from the sales - totaling less than $10 million - went to boost Red Cross disaster-response efforts. The suit asks the Red Cross to turn over the products in question to New Brunswick, N.J.-based Johnson & Johnson for destruction and also seeks unspecified punitive damages.

The key word there is punitive. This is punitive and mean spirited. Clearly, I am not a lawyer... and this will be worked out in the courts. Hey Johnson & Johnson, there is this old lady at my church who keeps aspirin in her purse, and gives it away to old people who are sore. You aren't going to stand for that, are you? Also, at my job, they give away band aids for FREE. You get the idea.

Doesn't a business have a right to protect their interests? Not if it hurts the community. It will take the ARC millions just to fight this. That is money that could be helping to rebuild communities after disasters. You don't think Fema is gonna save your ass, do you? Exactly!

Regardless, I won't ever buy another product from Johnson and Johnson if I can help it.