Korean Job Discussion Forums

[madoka]

Nice to see how Chrysler is using tax dollars given to bail them out to sue high schools over a ram mascot:

http://www.autoblog.com/2010/02/20/chrysler-legal-turns-into-school-bully-over-use-of-ram-logo/

About the same time Chrysler and Fiat executives were running through a marathon eight -hour look into the future with the world's automotive journalists, Pentastar lawyers were working over the principal at Lake Mary High School in Lake Mary, Florida. You may be asking yourself what Chrysler lawyers would want with principal Michael Kotkin when, just six months earlier, The Pentastar needed billions of taxpayer dollars to exit bankruptcy. Good question, for sure, but the answer is pretty lame.

Moto Bullet reports that Chrysler's legal department was reportedly all up in Kotkin's grill because the school's logo was a near-perfect match for the Dodge Ram logo. Team Pentastar ordered the school to replace the company's favorite goat head as the school logo or risk having to drive a Sebring head into court. Chrysler lawyers even had several photos of the logo being used at the school in several different spots. The Seminole County School District decided that the logo wasn't worth an expensive legal battle, so the school, ranked in the top 1.4 percent nationally for academics, reportedly has until June 15 to remove it from the premises. But while avoiding court will likely save the district plenty of money, the school won't get out of this mess scot-free. Removing the horned-head from the school's gym floor alone will reportedly cost the school (read: local taxpayers) $15,000, or roughly the cost of a new science book for about 300 kids.

We don't want to pretend that we're experts on branding rights and corporate logos, but we just can't see what the harm is to Dodge if the brand and the school share the logo. After all, we're assuming the school isn't going to start making a competitive truck in wood shop. Principal Kotkin is still putting a positive spin on the situation, saying that Chrysler's actions have "galvanized my school," but unfortunately for Team Pentastar, the school's new battle cry sounds something like "I'll never buy a Chrysler as long as I live."

[Fox]

Corporations constantly make totally retarded decisions like this. I can understand such a suit if, say, a rival automotive company were doing it (and as such Crysler's customers might be deceived), but a school logo is not going to harm their business in any way.

Cases like this are good reminders that corporations have vastly different interests which are completely in conflict with those of normal citizens. The less influence these things have in our society, the better.

[Senior]

I've always wondered how I would react in a situation like this. Surely the principal must be asking questions of the lawyers. For instance;

"When you were a little kid, was this what you dreamed about doing for a job?"

"What class in college prepared you for this? Suing high school football teams 223?"

How do lawyers live in their own skin? They are necessary, but the majority of the profession is just a parasitic branch of the real economy.