基於信仰的公司在分髮帶有聖經經文的狗牌的法律鬥爭中又向前邁進了一步

埃茲 |福克斯新聞

Fundamentalist Christian legal organization First Liberty Institute is now attempting in federal court to make Christian jewelry company Shields of Strength owner Kenny Vaughan free to put the official trademarked Department of Defense (DoD) branch emblems on the Bible verse dog tags his company makes by claiming that the DoD “fraudulently” obtained its trademarks and that all of the DoD’s trademarks should be revoked. Seriously!

原教旨主義基督教法律組織第一自由研究所目前正試圖在聯邦法院讓基督教珠寶公司Shields of Strength 所有者肯尼·沃恩(Kenny Vaughan) 自由地將國防部(DoD) 分支標誌的官方商標放在他的公司製作的聖經經文狗牌上，聲稱國防部「以欺詐手段」獲得了其商標，國防部的所有商標都應被撤銷。嚴重地！

But First Liberty isn’t telling its followers (a.k.a. potential donors) about this new legal strategy of transforming what was a religious liberty case into a case regarding trademark law.

但第一自由組織並沒有告訴其追隨者（又稱潛在捐助者）這項將宗教自由案件轉變為商標法案件的新法律策略。

After a federal district court ruled late last month that the case can proceed, First Liberty posted an article on its website titled “Bible Verse Dog Tag Company, Shields of Strength, is One Step Closer to Victory,” in which these paragons of Christian virtue made no mention at all of this now being a trademark law case that will have little if any bearing on religious liberty. And First Liberty’s co-conspirators at Fox News were happy to play along, as usual, 

在聯邦地方法院上月底裁定此案可以繼續審理後，第一自由在其網站上發布了一篇題為“聖經經文狗牌公司，力量之盾，距離勝利更近了一步”的文章，其中這些基督教美德的典範完全沒有提及這件事現在是商標法案件，對宗教自由幾乎沒有影響。 「第一自由」在福克斯新聞的同謀也像往常一樣很高興地合作，

And (spoiler alert for those who are going to read this whole post), MRFF has uncovered that Bible verse dog tag maker Kenny Vaughan is no stranger to trademark infringement lawsuits. He was sued for trademark infringement back in 1996 when his coin business (which is still operating, using a different name) blatantly ripped off his former employer’s, and then competitor’s, ads, presumably to cause confusion between his former employer’s well-established business and his new similar business to steer business his way.

而且（對於那些將要閱讀整篇文章的人來說，請注意劇透），MRFF 發現聖經經文狗牌製造商肯尼·沃恩 (Kenny Vaughan) 對商標侵權訴訟並不陌生。早在1996 年，他就因商標侵權而被起訴，當時他的硬幣業務（仍在運營，但使用了不同的名稱）公然抄襲了他前雇主的廣告，然後又抄襲了競爭對手的廣告，大概是為了在他前雇主的成熟業務和其他業務之間造成混淆。

Back in the summer of 2019, the Military Religious Freedom Foundation (MRFF) was made aware of a company that was selling Bible verse dog tags with the official U.S. Marine Corps emblem on them, a clear violation of Department of Defense (DoD) regulations, which strictly prohibit the use of any official DoD emblems or logos on merchandise that promotes a religious belief (or political message). 

早在 2019 年夏天，軍事宗教自由基金會 (MRFF) 就發現一家公司正在銷售帶有美國海軍陸戰隊官方徽章的聖經經文狗牌，這明顯違反了國防部 (DoD) 的規定，嚴格禁止在商品上使用任何宣揚宗教信仰（或政治訊息）的國防部官方標誌或標誌。

There are two versions of the official DoD service branch emblems — the official Service Seals, which may only be used by the DoD and its components, and the Emblems and/or Crests, which are trademarked variations of the Service Seals that may be licensed by businesses for use on their merchandise, subject to the approval of the service branch’s Trademark Licensing office. There are also logos, such as the familiar Army star logo, which are also trademarked and require a license to use.

國防部官方服務部門標誌有兩個版本：官方服務印章，只能由國防部及其組成部分使用，以及徽章和/或徽章，它們是服務印章的商標變體，可由國防部授權企業在其商品上使用，須經服務部門商標許可辦公室批准。還有一些徽標，例如熟悉的陸軍星形徽標，它們也已註冊商標並需要許可才能使用。

As MRFF quickly ascertained, the company that was selling these Bible verse dog tags, Christian jewelry company Shields of Strength, did have a license from the Marine Corps — but for “inspirational dog tags” — and a quick look at the Shields of Strength website revealed that the company was also selling Bible verse dog tags with Army, Navy, and Air Force emblems and logos on them.

正如MRFF 很快確定的那樣，銷售這些聖經經文狗牌的公司，即基督教珠寶公司Shields of Strength，確實獲得了海軍陸戰隊的許可——但針對的是“勵志狗牌”——快速瀏覽一下Shields of Strength 網站據透露，該公司還銷售帶有陸軍、海軍和空軍徽章和標誌的聖經經文狗牌。

MRFF quickly sent letters to the Trademark Licensing offices of each of the military branches, demanding that they stop Shields of Strength from putting the trademarked military emblems and logos on its Bible verse dog tags or any other religious items, as this clearly violated DoD Instruction 5535.12, “DoD Branding and Trademark Licensing Program Implementation,” Section 2.d. of which states (emphasis added):

MRFF 迅速致函各軍事部門的商標許可辦公室，要求他們阻止力量之盾將已註冊的軍事徽章和標誌放在其聖經經文狗牌或任何其他宗教物品上，因為這明顯違反了國防部指令 5535.12 ，“國防部品牌和商標許可計劃實施”，第2.d 節。其中指出（強調是後加的）：

“In accordance with subpart 2635.702 of Title 5, Code of Federal Regulations (Reference (i)), DoD marks may not be licensed for use in a manner that creates a perception of DoD endorsement of any non-federal entity or its products and services. DoD marks may not be licensed for any purpose intended to promote ideological movements, sociopolitical change, religious beliefs (including non-belief), specific interpretations of morality, or legislative/statutory change….”

「根據《聯邦法規》第 5 章第 2635.702 款（參考文獻 (i)），國防部標誌不得以任何非聯邦實體或其產品和服務產生國防部認可的方式獲得許可使用。國防部標誌不得被許可用於任何旨在促進意識形態運動、社會政治變革、宗教信仰（包括無信仰）、道德的具體解釋或立法/法規變革的目的…”

Three of the four military branches immediately agreed with MRFF, sending cease and desist letters to Shields of Strength, ordering the company to stop putting their trademarked emblems and/or logos on its Bible verse dog tags.

四個軍事部門中的三個立即同意 MRFF 的意見，向 Shields of Strength 發送停止函，命令該公司停止將其商標標誌和/或標誌放在其聖經經文狗牌上。

In 2019, fundamentalist Christian legal organization First Liberty Institute, ever at the ready to champion the causes of “persecuted” Christians like Shields of Strength owner Kenny Vaughan and get them publicity — lots of publicity — took up the case.

2019 年，原教旨主義基督教法律組織第一自由研究所(First Liberty Institute) 接手了此案，該組織隨時準備為像Shields of Strength 所有者肯尼·沃恩(Kenny Vaughan) 這樣的“受迫害”基督徒辯護，並讓他們得到宣傳——大量宣傳——接手了此案。

The right-wing media had a field day with this story of Christian persecution, almost all deceptively omitting that DoD regulations prohibit DoD emblems from being used on religious merchandise and either downplaying or omitting that these emblems are trademarked, leading their readers to think that the military was prohibiting service members from wearing Bible verses, which was simply not true. Nobody had told Shields of Strength that it couldn’t make and sell Bible verse dog tags or that service members couldn’t wear Bible verses. They just couldn’t have the DoD’s emblems on them. I wrote about this at the time, in a post titled “Do Bible Verses Lose Their Meaning If They Don’t Have Government Endorsement?”

右翼媒體對基督徒迫害的故事大肆報道，幾乎所有媒體都欺騙性地忽略了國防部規定禁止在宗教商品上使用國防部標誌，並且淡化或忽略這些標誌已註冊商標，導致讀者認為軍隊禁止軍人佩戴聖經經文，但這根本不是事實。沒有人告訴 Shields of Strength，它不能製造和銷售聖經經文狗牌，也沒有人告訴軍人不能戴聖經經文。他們只是身上沒有國防部的標誌。我當時在一篇題為「如果沒有政府認可，聖經經文就會失去意義嗎？」的貼文中寫到了這一點。

In January 2020, shortly after taking on Vaughan’s case, First Liberty

2020 年 1 月，在接手沃恩的案件後不久，First Liberty