After months of closed-door negotiating, pharma giant Johnson & Johnson filed a lawsuit Wednesday against The American Red Cross claiming that the Red Cross violated trademark laws by using the red cross symbol on certain commercial products.

Although the American Red Cross was created in 1881, while Johnson & Johnson started using the trademark in 1887, the American Red Cross did not receive its Congressional charter until 1900.

In the lawsuit Johnson &Johnson contends that even with the charter, the Red Cross was never granted use of their Red Cross logo for commercial activities which competed with private business.

Johnson & Johnson’s claims elicited an angry response from Red Cross president Mark Everson.

“For a multibillion dollar drug company to claim that the Red Cross violated a criminal statute … simply so that J&J can make more money, is obscene…The Red Cross products that J.& J. wants to take away from consumers and have destroyed are those that help Americans get prepared for life’s emergencies…I hope that the courts and Congress will not allow Johnson & Johnson to bully the American Red Cross.”"

According to the Red Cross these products were part of safety and health kits and the company only $2 million annually from sales of the products. Furthermore the Red Cross, in a rebuttal on its website, points out that it has been selling these kits commercially since 1903.

If Johnson & Johnson wins in litigation the Red Cross will have to turn over the remaining products to Johnson & Johnson for destruction and possibly pay punitive damages for the items sold.

Commentary: What is going on in the head of Johnson & Johnson? Even if J&J had a strong case, it is ALWAYS BETTER to reach a private settlement than to run to court. After a 100 years of cooperation on using a similar trademark it seems quite petty for a company with $53 billion in revenues in 2006 suing over $2 million in proceeds that went a non-profit to be used towards disaster relief.

As the company cuts jobs and confronts a whole host of other legal problems, it seems to us that the last thing that Johnson & Johnson needs is more bad publicity. We scanned the commentary and blogs on this story and overall it is running highly negative against J&J. They could lose more money in sales than they hope to gain in this lawsuit. Sometimes the best battles are the ones not fought and maybe right now Johnson & Johnson doesn’t seem to understand that.