Obama's Joshua Generation Project Hits Legal Rift with Homeschoolers

By Lawrence D. Jones, Christian Post Reporter Tuesday, July 08, 2008

The Obama campaign said it will drop the use of the name "Joshua Generation" to dub an effort to attract younger faith voters after learning that a homeschooling group already claimed trademark rights to a very similar name.

The campaign for Sen. Barack Obama in June revealed plans to launch a major new program to woo younger evangelicals and Catholics voters. The effort went by the name "Joshua Generation Project" and involved reaching out to young faith voters on issues such as poverty, Darfur, climate change and the Iraq war, Christian Broadcasting Network's The Brody File had reported.

But upon learning of the project, lawyers with the Home School Legal Defense Association – an advocate group for home schooling rights – sent a letter asking the Obama campaign to stop usage of the name. The 83,000-strong organization pointed out that it owns trademark rights to both "Generation Joshua" and "Generation Joshua & Design."

In a response letter, the Obama campaign said it "respects the intellectual property of others" and would honor the request.

"As you may already know, the Campaign is no longer planning on using the 'Joshua Generation Project' name or any other confusingly similar name in the future," the letter stated, according to HSLDA.

"We're pleased the Obama campaign has acknowledged our trademark rights," said HSLDA Chairman Mike Farris.

Since 2004, the HSLDA has been training young Christians between the ages of 11 to 19 who wish to enter civic and political arenas under the Generation Joshua banner.

Although the idea of "Joshua Generation" will no longer be spotlighted in presidential campaigns this time around, Farris hopes the spirit embodied in Generation Joshua will resurface somewhere in the political future.

"I want some of these young people to be the senators and congressmen and governors and state legislators, and maybe even president of the United States someday," he said.

According to CBN's David Brody, the Obama campaign is now holding a "contest" find a replacement name.