LYNCHBURG, Va., July 28, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Jerry Falwell, Jr. announced today that Liberty University is being sued on behalf of the Dr. Jerry L. Falwell Family Trust, of which he is a trustee and beneficiary. Upon his passing in 2007, Dr. Falwell left his intellectual property in the Trust for the benefit of his children. The lawsuit alleges that Liberty has wrongfully exploited Dr. Falwell’s name and image, and the “Jerry Falwell” trademark, by using them without permission or license to create a false association with the Jerry Falwell brand and the impression that Liberty’s use of Dr. Falwell’s intellectual property is authorized, when it is not.
“Liberty announced it is spending approximately $35 million of student tuition money on an ostentatious Disneyesque shrine, including an interactive hologram,” Falwell, Jr. said. “I asked the University to stop improperly using my father’s intellectual property and sent the University leadership a proposed license agreement that would cover the Jerry Falwell Center, assuming there was meaningful consultation with the family about the use of my father’s intellectual property. Unfortunately, they chose to continue using it without authorization, and in an undignified manner that seems to attempt to aggrandize and deify my father in a fawning way that he would never have wanted or approved. It really is the ‘Jerry First Center’ blatantly ignoring the fact that my father was known for producing millions of ‘Jesus First’ lapel pins free of charge for anyone to wear.”
The lawsuit contends that Liberty acknowledged the Trust’s exclusive ownership of the Jerry Falwell trademark, but repeatedly employed the trademark to create confusion.
The lawsuit refers to a wide-ranging Jerry Falwell campaign that has included using Dr. Falwell’s name on the forthcoming Jerry Falwell Center; using his name, image, and trademark in commercials and other advertising for Liberty; using his handwriting and signature in promotional materials; and even using casts of his footprints for a walking tour of the campus. The lawsuit also alleges that Liberty is using Falwell intellectual property to solicit donations and to sell “naming rights” to rooms in the Jerry Falwell Center.
REF: Case # 6:23-cv-00040-NKM, U.S. District Court, Western District of Virginia
