‘Handmade by God' sparks ungodly lawsuit in Atlanta

If you mixed religious doctrine with business principles, you could say that God holds the ultimate trademark on everything.

Alas, God doesn’t hold the trademark to his handiwork, at least not with the U.S. Patent and Trademark office. (We checked.)

The person who does is a more earthly entity known as Arthur Gross III of Irvine, Calif., who registered "Made by God" in 2007.

In fact, phrases containing some form of "God" have been trademarked more than 3,400 times in the United States: "God answers knee-mail" and "All God's Children Got Issues" and, of course, "T.G.I. Friday's," the restaurant chain.

But where you have trademarks, you also have trademark infringement. Which is how Megan P. Nicholson of Marietta, purveyor of merchandise bearing the logo "Handmade by God," came to file suit in Atlanta federal court against Gross, owner of "Made by God."

Asked what he thought God would do in this case, Gross said, “He’s got the right to use thunderbolts and stuff; God doesn’t like competition."

But he understands the irony of the dispute.

"When you're dealing with the trademark ‘Made by God,’ you don't want to be the mean guy," said Gross, who was raised Episcopalian. "At the end of the day, I just want them to go away."

Nicholson sells T-shirts, baby bibs and onesies from her website. The items have a red heart on the front with "Handmade by God" above it and "The only label that counts" below it. In her complaint, filed April 9, she argues that her logo does not confuse consumers or infringe upon "made by God."

In an e-mail, Nicholson, who is Presbyterian, said the items remind us that "as we all push towards new goals, new status, new titles, new roles or new labels in life, our hope is that we all stop and remember that we have already been given the greatest label of them all – being Handmade by God."

Gross, meanwhile, had already filed his own action in Washington last month with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office's Trademark Trial and Appeal Board.

Gross' company, Made By God Corp., sells stones, glasses, mugs and keychains with an encircled engraving that reads "Made by God." He says he trademarked it first.

Gross, who said in his filing that he spent more than $1.3 million in marketing his trademark, said her phrasing is too close to his and, because they both sell items aimed at reminding people about God's role in their lives, it's too confusing to the average person.

"A year ago, she agreed to go away," Gross said, recounting an agreement he said both sides reached last year after he sent Nicholson and her attorney a cease and desist letter.

Nicholson doesn't see it that way.

In her complaint, she acknowledges her initial registration in late 2007 to trademark "handmade by God" was suspended because of Gross' earlier application. But she notes the suspension was lifted in January after the Trademark and Patent Office decreed that his application was abandoned.

Gross, who said he missed a key filing deadline last year because he was hospitalized after a heart attack, subsequently filed a petition to revive his application.