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Letter from the General
Conference of Seventh-day Adventists, dated July 24, 2007
The following is a copy of the
second letter received from the General Conference of Seventh-day
Adventists' legal department demanding that Guthrie
Memorial Adventist Chapel change its name.
SEVENTH-DAY
ADVENTIST CHURCH
General Conference
World Headquarters
Office of General Counsel
12501 Old Columbia Pike
Silver Spring, Maryland
20904-6600 USA
Telephone (301) 680-6320
Fax (301 680-6329
July 24, 2007
CERTIFIED MAIL
Mr. Fillmer Hevener
Route 2, Box 1425
Farmville, VA 23901
Re: Guthrie Memorial Adventist
Church
Dear Dr. Hevener:
Thank you for your letter of July 15, 2007. Perhaps we
neglected to attach the trademark/service mark
registrations for the mark ADVENTIST®, which belong to the
Seventh-day Adventist® Church (see attached). The
registrations cover numerous categories, including
specifically "religious observances and missionary
services," with the first use in commerce dating back to
1860. These registrations establish that the Seventh-day
Adventist® Church has the exclusive right to use these
marks for the stated purposes, despite any claims that the
mark is "generic."
Like you, we also favor avoiding secular courts if at all
possible, which is why we sent our original letter asking
that you choose another name to identify your religious
organization. We are hopeful that in the spirit of
Christian brotherhood we can resolve this matter amicably
without invoking the power of the courts, to which we are
entitled by virtue of our protected marks. In the event
that we cannot resolve this amongst ourselves, we will
have no choice other than to enforce our rights before a
judicial tribunal.
We thank you for the notice that there is an organization
operating in the Potomac Conference that uses the name
Seventh-day Adventist® but is not a part of the sisterhood
of Churches. We were not aware of this group and will take
all of the necessary steps to protect the name of our
Church in that instance as well.
Again, please understand that our request for you to
immediately cease and desist from using the name ADVENTIST
to identify your religious organization does not stem from
your beliefs pertaining to almsgiving or any other tenet.
It is simply based on the fact that your organization's
use of the name ADVENTIST in connection with your
religious observances and missionary services is
confusingly similar to the use of the Seventh-day
Adventist® Church in the same areas of
classification. Therefore we must respectfully
_______________________________________
F. Hevener
Re: Guthrie Memorial Adventist Church
July 24, 2007
Page 2 of 2
demand that you cease and desist from your use and provide
us with written assurances that such has taken place as
stated in our July 5, 2007 correspondence.
Sincerely,
(signed) Robert E. Kyte
General Counsel
Attachments (as noted)
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