Lawsuit against podcast is about trademark confusion, not name, Church of Jesus Christ says

SALT LAKE CITY — The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints on Thursday re-emphasized that its lawsuit against podcaster John Dehlin is based on what it considers trademark confusion rather than an attempt to hamper Dehlin's free speech.

The update is part of the ongoing court case against the podcaster behind "Mormon Stories."

"The church has always acknowledged Mr. Dehlin's First Amendment right to criticize the church," said Doug Anderson, church spokesperson. "This case is not about preventing people from using the word Mormon."

He said the lawsuit concerns "church-protected names, images and design elements which, in the collective, create confusion when it comes to knowing whether the content is affiliated with the church."

Dehlin founded and hosts the podcast "Mormon Stories." He was excommunicated from the church in 2015.

A legal filing by the church in the case on Thursday — a memorandum opposing Dehlin's motion to dismiss the case — "reinforces" the trademark issues, Anderson said.

"This case is not about silencing criticism. The church's claims do not target the content of (Dehlin's) speech at all. Nor is it about ownership or control of the word Mormon. The church made this clear in its complaint.

"Rather, this case is about eliminating the confusion caused by (Dehlin's) mimicking the church's trademarks and using its copyrighted images without permission," the church's latest motion states.

Earlier this month, the ACLU of Utah filed an amicus brief supporting "Mormon Stories," arguing that "trademark law cannot be weaponized to monopolize ordinary language or shield an organization from criticism," the organization said in a news release. It argued that limiting use of the word "Mormon" would violate the First Amendment.

The church's new filing on Thursday counters those claims.

"Mr. Dehlin can criticize the church as he chooses, and he can use Mormon in connection with his podcast. But federal law prohibits (Dehlin) from pilfering the church's copyrighted images or using its trademarks in ways that are likely to cause people to believe that defendants or their content are associated with the church," the motion continues.

"Our legal team and I just received the response a few minutes ago and are digesting it. If we have any public statements, we will make them at an appropriate time on mormonstories.org," Dehlin said in an emailed response to KSL on Thursday.

The church and its intellectual property entity, Intellectual Reserve Inc., originally filed the trademark and copyright complaint in federal court in April, naming Dehlin and his Open Stories Foundation.

The lawsuit claims Dehlin willfully and knowingly created confusion by using logos and marks similar to the church's and by using copyrighted church photographs.

In April, the church emphasized in a post on its website that the trademark issue is unrelated to the podcast's viewpoint.

Dehlin told the Deseret News at the time that he and the Open Stories Foundation don't believe there is any trademark infringement.

"We disagree with their allegations of confusion," Dehlin stated in an email response to the Deseret News.

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