Holymoly

I'm waiting on news of trade mark litigation in Denmark, where ultra conservative Roman Catholic religious institution Opus Dei is suing a small board games maker that - presumably influenced by the very same forces of darkness that are manifest in this blog - markets a game titled Opus-Dei: Existence After Religion.

Dema Games, which has a Danish trade mark for its product, is responsible for an atheist-flavoured "philosophy-themed, strategy-based game" in which - but of course - the player with the most points wins. The religious institution is apparently seeking damages - probably enough to shut down Dema - along with an end to the game and the associated mark.

The games company won a UK domain name dispute in 2009 in an arbitration judgment [PDF] that is worth reading.

In Australia the local branch of Opus Dei - the Prelature of the Holy Cross and Opus Dei in Australia - complete with an Australian Company Number (ACN 053818929) has the Opus Dei mark in four classes:

Class 9: Computer, Electrical and Scientific Products - Electronic publications, educational films, tapes, cassettes and other electronic material 

Class 16: Paper Goods and Printed Material - Printed matter, newspapers and periodicals, books and other printed publications, instructional and teaching materials 

Class 41: Education, Sport, Culture - Religious, spiritual, theological, philosophical, community and social educational, information and training services 

Class 42: Computer, Software and Scientific Services - Religious, spiritual, theological, philosophical and spiritual research and services including pastoral counselling 

Would unwary consumers be confused and mistake the offerings of the prelature with the card game?