TripAdvisor has sent a letter threatening legal action against organizers of Super Happy Fun America’s “straight pride” parade, scheduled to march through Boston in late August, demanding the group stop using the TripAdvisor logo on the website promoting the event.
TripAdvisor lawyer Bradford Young “said the suggestion that the company is in any way associated with the parade is ‘completely false,'” reported The Boston Globe.
The crafters of the Needham, Massachusetts–based global travel forum’s letter did so with pizzazz, filling it with over a dozen references to LGBT anthems.
Reports the Globe:
TripAdvisor is calling on organizers of a “straight pride” parade next month in Boston to stop using their logo without permission — and having some fun in the process.
The Needham-based travel company sent a cease-and-desist letter Friday to John Hugo, a Woburn resident and president of Super Happy Fun America, after their logo was included on a webpage of the group’s “prospective corporate sponsors” for the planned Aug. 31 parade.
The letter, sent by TripAdvisor lawyer Bradford Young, threatened potential legal action if Super Happy Fun America didn’t stop using the company’s imagery within 24 hours. It was also riddled with the names of more than a dozen LGBTQ anthems.
“I’m Coming Out and saying this clearly: you are infringing upon TripAdvisor’s intellectual property rights,” Young wrote in a nod to Diana Ross’s 1980 song.
From Lady Gaga’s song “Born This Way” to Gloria Gaynor’s “I Will Survive,” the letter went on from there.
“TripAdvisor’s trademarks are protected in many countries around the world and Over The Rainbow, including in the United States under Registration Nos. 2727627, 3171193, 4612678 and 4454774,” Young wrote. “We have become a well-known brand for our reviews of hotels, restaurants, experiences and even the occasional YMCA, but we weren’t Born This Way—we obtained that recognition through significant advertising and promotion since as early as 2000.”
TripAdvisor was among 25 companies with “reputations for being both progressive and socially conscious” whose logos were included in a July 9 blog post on Super Happy Fun America’s website. The group claimed that they were “in negotiations” with the companies to be sponsors of their “straight pride” parade. …
“These inaccurate statements, which I trust do not show your True Colors, infringe on TripAdvisor’s rights under the Lanham Act, and impinge upon our Freedom! to decide with what organizations we want to associate our brand,” he wrote. “Have A Little Respect and remove those statements. TripAdvisor and I Will Survive without being associated with your event.”
In an email Friday [July 19] sharing the letter, TripAdvisor spokesman Brian Hoyt said the company’s lawyers spent “all night” crafting the reference-laden response. Hoyt said the company learned about the parade last week and was “sad to see our logo on their site with lies about us potentially ‘partnering’ with them.”
“To add to the points raised by our legal department in this cease & desist letter, TripAdvisor is a proud and inclusive workplace,” he wrote, going on to channel Elton John. “We believe the organizers of this event owe the LGBTQ+ community an apology – even if SORRY SEEMS TO BE THE HARDEST WORD to say.” …
Organizers of the”straight pride” parade have said the event was planned in response to the city of Boston’s unfair celebration of gay pride and insist that straight people have become an “oppressed majority.” After it was announced last month, the parade was widely mocked by those noting that the heterosexual community has not faced the same level of discrimination and harassment.
Several other companies, including Lyft, Netflix, and the Boston-based financial firm State Street, have also rejected Super Happy Fun America’s attempts to link them to the parade (though State Street did extend their “best wishes” for the event). The group has put an “X” over several companies who they say have declined to sponsor the parade.
However, TripAdvisor’s logo still appeared Monday afternoon without an “X.” In an email Monday afternoon, Hoyt said the company is aware that the organization “continues to wrongly use our trademark to insinuate that they are affiliated with TripAdvisor.” He said that the company’s legal team has given the group until Tuesday morning to update their website.
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