Claim Over Red Cross Symbol Is Settled

The American Red Cross and Johnson & Johnson, the health care conglomerate, announced Tuesday that they had settled a longstanding dispute over use of the Red Cross trademark.

The two sides announced the settlement a month after Judge Jed S. Rakoff of Federal District Court in Manhattan threw out much of J.& J.’s trademark claim against the relief organization.

Terms of the settlement were not disclosed, but according to a statement, it includes an agreement that both parties will continue to use the symbol — a Greek red cross on a white background.

Johnson & Johnson sued the Red Cross last August, claiming that the organization’s decision to use the Red Cross symbol on products sold in stores was a violation of a longstanding arrangement. Under that arrangement, the company had used the trademark commercially on products like Band-Aids while the Red Cross used it as a symbol of its disaster relief mission.

But beginning in 2004, the Red Cross started licensing the symbol to other companies for use on commercial items sold in stores as part of the organization’s fund-raising program. J.& J. argued that the organization had promised not to engage in certain commercial activity, according to court papers.

Judge Rakoff, however, ruled that a Congressional charter gave the Red Cross the right to use the symbol even for business purposes.

In a statement, J.& J.’s chief executive, William C. Weldon, said the company “brought the lawsuit very reluctantly only to protect what we believed are important trademark issues.”

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