Playboy is suing a UCF fraternity
 

ORANGE COUNTY, Fla. -- A party that got out of hand is now at the center of a legal battle. Playboy is suing a UCF fraternity. They say Kappa Alpha Psi had no right to use the company's logo and name when promoting a party that the police had to break up.


Image taken from fraternity's web site promoting the party.

If fraternity members thought it was cute to use the Playboy bunny as their logo, the lawsuit probably changed their mind. If they lose this suit, they could owe hundreds of thousands dollars in damages.

When he saw the Playboy bunny on his party ticket, Alton Conner figured he'd have a pretty good time.

"It was awesome. There were girls running around everywhere, beautiful ladies, everywhere," Conner says.

But as students streamed into the hotel last March for Kappa Alpha Psi's annual pajama jam frat party, things went way out of hand.

"People started pushing, shoving try to get in," says party attendee Jamaal Percell.

"Cops were all over the place, people running around all over the place. It was basically crazy," says Altagrace Medastin, who also went to the party. "Everybody just ended up falling and getting trampled. I actually fell. Me and a couple of my friends actually fell and got stepped on."

When it was over, a student was covered with blood, two glass doors were smashed and the hotel refunded $10,000 in room rates to angry guests. But the story does not end there.

http://www.wftv.com/newsofthestrange...05/detail.html

is anyone else saying wtf???
 

aside from all the legal issues with Playboy Magazine, I am wondering how the fraternity managed to secure a hotel for their party. i helped our social plan our spring formal last semester and got turned down by NUMEROUS hotels because they want nothing to do with hosting a fraternity function. We finally got Embassy Suites, but only after the manager was assured that there would be tons of alumni and our chapter advisor present at the formal.

this is very unfortunate, not only because of the situation, but because i know of several other instances where trademarked logos are used by unauthorized organiztions (including the playboy bunny logo), so it sort of sucks that this fraternity is becoming somewhat of a whipping boy for all the other orgs. that use unauthorized logos.

i was curious as to whether playboy has ever used a sorority themed logo in their magazine. if so, every sorority should sue playboy for causing " 'serious and substantial injury' to its reputation." ;) take that hef and your multi-million dollar magazine (which i don't ever read mom, i swear).

Wait! Wasn't KAPsi around and using that symbol before Playboy? Correct me if I'm wrong here...

Interesting question, but if they didn't register it as their trade or service mark, and Playboy did, the magazine wins.

This does bring up an important point that isn't always considered by college groups (and others, to be fair). The use of trademarks and the like of groups like Playboy, the Olympics and others is often not discovered -- but when it is, it can be big trouble for a chapter.

It's just another instance of remembering to obey the law.

As for hotels, the Delts here in Colorado use hotels for their formals regularly and I'm not aware of them having much trouble getting one.

I think that's probably a location issue. His fraternity might have had problems getting a hotel because hotels in his area have had problems with fraternity formals in the past.

Question though.
Even if it isn't registered by the fraternity, if they can prove that they used the logo prior to Playboy, they do have some kind of rights don't they? Or does that only matter when it comes to two groups fighting over the patent rights?

I don't think that who the original user is/was matters. It's who registers the mark first. Maybe some of our lawyers or law students can help out here, but that's my impression. It isn't really a patent question -- closer to copyrite it would seem to me.

Sometimes these things seem pretty petty, but we had a local high school who used to call themselves the "Olympians" and were sued (or maybe just threatened) by the US Olympic Committee and forced to change their name.

In the case being discussed, Playboy would probably never have found out about the fraternity using the bunny symbol if there had not been damage, injuries and negative publicity.

Re: is anyone else saying wtf???
 

I'm guessing they did something sneaky, like instead of telling the hotel it was "Gamma Phi Beta's Crescent Ball" it was "The Crescent Club Awards Banquet" or "Crescent Scholarship Night" or something else that sounds innocent, like "Helen M. Dodge Fan Club meeting." ;)

Re: is anyone else saying wtf???
 

With the billions of hotels in the Orlando area :) , UCF fraternities and sororities have never had a problem securing a hotel for formals. Actually, my experience has been that they welcome us with open arms. During all my ZTA formals and the fraternity formals I went to, there was always a huge banner and lighted welcome sign at the front of the hotel that said "Welcome UCF Zeta Tau Alpha" or welcome to whatever organization that was having their formal there.

This is the first time I've ever heard about a UCF Greek Greek organization having a problem at a local hotel.

You're right, you patent objects, not words/symbols...it's an issue of using a registered trademark with permission/compensation. HA! and i'd never believe that this fraternity came up with the bunny logo before Hugh Hefner, that's highly doubtful. Playboy has been in circulation since the 1940's and seeing as how KAPsi has been in existence since 1911, we probably would have heard about it by now ;)

Though Playboy's going to have an interesting time if they want any substantial damage award...they're going to have to figure out the extent of the flier circulation to figure out the damage to their reputation....well, though now so many people have heard through the papers, it might actually be easier than before!

Do you think that this will spread beyond just the party? I know of other chapters of KAPsi that use the symbol too?

The article said that playboy was suing three other chapters, no doubt there will be more. Or their nationals will clue the chapters in.

I don't think the fraternity would mind our posting their message under the circumstances:

"Brothers,

Playboy Enterprises in threatening a law suit against the fraternity. Please discontinue the use of and destroy any material (Web sites, shirts, flyers, cards, etc) that display Kappa Alpha Psi and the Playboy Bunny logo. Do not use the Playboy Bunny logo for any purpose."

Frank S. Emanuel
Southern Province

Playboy bunny of KAPsi.
 

I went to a Nupe (the nickname of KAPsi members) smoker over 24 years ago. (I eventually pledged Omega Psi Phi that same year.) From as long as I've known of KAPsi,they were known as the "Playboy fraternity." This tradition goes back quite a ways, I would guess. But only now, in our litigious society, Playboy is suing some chapters for copyright infringement. Actually, it's kind of ironic for those in the NPHC-member organizations, which tend to have more nationally-based stereotypes attached to their organizations that everyone knows about.

Wolfman,

Welcome to GreekChat.

You're absolutely right about the litigious society -- we've talked about that a lot in the Risk Management forum.

You have to wonder if Playboy would have done anything had there not been some damage and bad PR at this particular event.

Since the fraternity has been around and using the Playboy logotype and name for so many years, you would think that they have known about the (aparantely unauthorized) use long before now. It's not like they aren't somewhat aware and plugged into the Greek world.

Finally, if the fraternity agrees to stop using the logo and name, you would hope that Playboy won't go through with a suit.

Of course the problem for the fraternity at that point will be to be sure all of the chapters conform to the rules. Some locals have been known to ignore nationals.