Chrysler Bullies Florida High School Over Ram Logo

Auto Maker Threathens School Instead of Offering Goodwill Buyout

McCarvel
Lake Mary High School, Orlando, Florida admitted it used the ram head symbol off of a Dodge truck as it's logo for the school sports teams. Chrysler Corporation (www.chrysler.com) did not care to offer the school licensing terms for the logo even though it will cost the school thousands, maybe tens of thousands to replace everything currently using the logo. Judith Powell, attorney for Chrysler, said it is just not practical to control the use of the logo by students and their parents. Chrysler said it just cannot allow unauthorized use of its trademark. Accordingly, we must insist that the school immediately cease using the mark.

The school proudly displays its ram mascot on all sports team uniforms and all over the campus. Seminole County Superintendent Bill Vogel said he had hoped to work out a reasonable solution but Chrysler insisted the school desist. Apparently, the auto maker didn't care about the negative publicity because the company went ahead and ordered the school to stop using the logo even though it had been having lots of negative publicity already over bankruptcy and government handouts. Students feel the car company has gone too far. As one student put it, leave us alone. You're a big company. Nobody outside of this city will look at a Dodge logo and think of Lake Mary High School. This would never impact Chrysler.

The school will begin to phase out t-shirts and other merchandise with the offending logo. Then it will deal with athletic uniform and finally the gym floor which will cost thousands to remodel. One student say he thought "imitation was the sincerest form of flattery. Apparently, he was wrong. Angry parents said it was us, the taxpayer, that gave Chrysler 6.6 billion dollars just last summer to keep them in business and they are wasting their time on things like this? No wonder they went bankrupt. Chrysler Corporation has been lagging far behind all of the other auto makers in car sales. It is yet to be determined if Chrysler will be able to survive unless Fiat can save it. Corporate spokesman Mark Palese said, "We did not choose this course of action. We had to protect our rights." In the meantime, students, parents and a lot of teachers in Orlando say they won't be buying any Chrysler products anytime soon.

Published by McCarvel

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  • spartan 2/18/2010

    The HS broke the law, true.
    Chrysler is the ignorant bully who could have saved $ by sponsoring the school instead...they made a short-sighted mistake, as the logo will be re-designed in a few years, and the community will always be angry.
    One more reason for me not to buy that rattle-trap, squeeky, gas-guzzling, bottom-of-the-line machine

  • Ellen 2/18/2010

    Its a High School for crying out loud. It would be perfect if Chevy stepped up and offered the Impala logo. Great for the race team!

  • Nick B 2/17/2010

    On one hand, I think Dodge is completely in the right. No arguments hold up to the argument that the logo is trademarked and VERY visible, making ignorance hard to plead. It's as if the school said to heck with it, we'll deal with it if we get caught. I understand all of the arguments out there, but as a graphic designer I would be livid if one of my logos was being used without my permission.

    That being said, Chrysler will be bankrupt in about six months and the school can do as they please.

  • steve-O 2/17/2010

    why all the fuss? someone in the school administration KNEW this was a registered trademark. and they went ahead with it anyway. so why is everyone angry at Chrysler when it's the school administration who blatantly "stole" this logo that they should direct their anger towards.
    you wanna be the Rams? fine. design your own rams head. or better yet, open it up to the students as a contest.
    you can't take company's identity and just use it for your own. doesn't matter how big (OR SMALL) you are.
    Wake up, people.

  • Dave 2/17/2010

    Anyone who complains has no understanding of copyright law and no idea that you don't take things that don't belong to you without permission. Would it have been ok for the school to lift a logo from a smaller company?

  • Guest 2/17/2010

    I have zero sympathy for school administrators on this one. Whoever signed off on the idea of blatantly ripping off a corporate logo to brand the school's athletic programs should be terminated. Really?! How can one justify the risk? Absolutely ridiculous.

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