Tabberone's Hall of Shame - American Red Cross.

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American Red Cross
Hall Of Shame Member

The American Red Cross first came to our attention when some eBay sellers began complaining about their auctions being terminated. Postings of the various bulletin boards were saying that their use of the "red cross" symbol on jewelry and nurse dolls was being considered infringement by the Red Cross.
A charm auction was terminated on or about July 7, 2004. This is part of the bulletin board dialog.
Another auction was terminated on or about July 15 2004. This is the bulletin board dialog.
The American Red Cross joined the VeRO Program in June, 2004. It doesn't have a VeRO Member Page like a lot of others. You have to try and figure out their "message" by looking up the Red Cross member using their eBay id of arcnq and going to the About Me Page by clicking on their "ME" symbol.
In our opinion, the Red Cross is not really "protecting" their logo and trademarks but more preying on the individual who is innocently marketing items bearing a red cross. If the Red Cross really wanted to protect their logo, they would go after the manufacturer of the items, not the small seller. You go after the source. The small seller can't afford to fight back even though the position of the Red Cross may not be as good as they claim it is.
To support our opinion, we have de-constructed the Red Cross About Me page, commenting where we think they are right as well as where we think they are blowing smoke. Click Here to see where we think they are distorting facts, misrepresenting the truth, and occasionally being factual.
We don't have an objection to the Red Cross proctecting their trademarks. There are people out there who are trying to cheat others by illegally soliciting monies by misrepresenting themselves. That's a crime and should be prosecuted. Innocent infringers, if they are really infringing and not just part of a Red Cross witch hunt, should be told to stop, and then if they don't, terminate the auctions. Alas, the Red Cross, like many other VeRO members, don't have the time. They're too busy. But not too busy to shut down small auctions while ignoring the manufacturers.
Perhaps the American Red Cross should spend more time cleaning house and paying better attention to the monies collected and how it's spent? We collected some interesting articles that show the Red Cross isn't everything they would like you to believe, including one where the Red Cross refuses donations from Overstock.com. Makes one wonder just where is the money going? Instead of spending funds monitoring eBay for minor and non-infringing auctions, the Red Cross could find a better way to help people. After all, helping people is supposed to be their goal, not persecuting them.

Rebuttals
In an effort to provide a balanced view, we make the following offer to anyone who feels they have been wrongly accused on this web site.
If you, or your company, have been referenced on these pages, and you would like the chance to post a rebuttal, we will post your rebuttal (provided it is in good taste) so others can read it. The rebuttal must be submitted in a format that can easily be converted into HTML. We reserve the right to alter the rebuttal to make it more readable. However, we will not alter the content (unless there is offensive material to be removed). We also reserve the right to comment on any rebuttal received. Emails protesting the content of this web site may be treated as rebuttals by us at our discretion.
We made this offer a very long time ago and as of September 2008, only AnimieHot.com, in our Hall Of Shame, and Charlotte Perman (Sevenarts in our Hall Of Shame) have chosen to submit a formal rebuttal.