Former Liberty University President Jerry Falwell Jr. revealed that he and the Dr. Jerry L. Falwell Family Trust have sued the university over his father’s trademark, name and image.
Falwell, who resigned from the university in 2020 after it was revealed that his wife, Becki had engaged in a years-long affair with Giancarlo Granda, their former pool boy turned business partner, claims in a lawsuit filed Thursday that his father’s trademark has been “exploited” by the university and used without permission, according to the lawsuit filed in a Virginia court. (RELATED: Liberty University Selects Interim President While Jerry Falwell Is On Indefinite Leave)
“Upon his passing in 2007, Dr. Falwell left his valuable Jerry Falwell trademark in a trust for the benefit of his three children” the lawsuit says, adding that Liberty University has allegedly “begun to misappropriate the Trust’s valuable trademark-and Dr. Falwell’s name and image — for itself.”
The lawsuit alleges, “Liberty has also wrongfully exploited the Jerry Falwell trademark in advertising its plans to open the Jerry Falwell Center as a new welcome center for future students that will be used to promote the University.”
Other trademarked materials used by the university include “Dr. Falwell’s own handwriting” for promotional materials, and using old shoes of his to create footprints for a “walking tour path,” according to the lawsuit.
We are blessed to live out the vision and dream of our founder, Dr. Jerry Falwell. Thank you, FLAMES NATION, for joining us to celebrate this historic day! 🔥 #RiseWithUs #LibertyUniversity pic.twitter.com/Ep3JpfOT2Y
— Liberty University (@LibertyU) October 22, 2022
Falwell explained in a statement that Liberty University had announced that it was “spending approximately $35 million of student tuition money on an ostentatious Disneyesque shrine, including an interactive hologram” of his father, according to WSLS News. The university announced in October 2021 that it had plans to build the center which would “share the story of his life and his impact on the world,” according to the university website.
“I asked the University to stop improperly using my father’s intellectual property and sent the University leadership a proposed license agreement that would cover the Jerry Falwell Center, assuming there was meaningful consultation with the family about the use of my father’s intellectual property,” Falwell said in his statement.
Falwell sued Liberty University in early March for more than $8,500,000 in retirement benefits.
In a statement provided to the Daily Caller, a spokesperson said that while the university usually “prefers not to comment on active litigation,” having context was helpful.
The spokesperson for the university explained that Dr. Falwell had founded Liberty University in 1971 and that “his name is synonymous with Liberty University,” and has been used around the campus for many years and has been included on buildings such as the Jerry Falwell Museum and the Jerry Falwell Library.
“This lawsuit is in response to a specific request by Mr. Falwell, one trustee of the Falwell Family Trust, for the university to pay $7 million dollars for his permission to continue to use the name of Liberty’s founder for the next four years,” the spokesperson said, adding that the university had “declined the request” from Falwell.