Bennett School sued its alumnae affiliation for trademark infringement, WUNC Information reported. The traditionally Black girls’s school seeks to cease the affiliation from utilizing its identify, brand and different branding and is asking for vital punitive financial damages, together with at the least “all income realized” by the affiliation.
Relations between the school and the Bennett School Nationwide Alumnae Affiliation soured in 2022 after an investigation discovered that the school’s director of alumnae affairs embezzled greater than $185,000 from the establishment and the affiliation. In contrast to the school, the affiliation didn’t press fees to get the funds again or cooperate with the investigation, based on the criticism. On the time, Bennett was battling for its accreditation from the Southern Affiliation of Faculties and Faculties Fee on Faculties, which deemed the school financially unstable. The criticism argues the alumnae affiliation’s “weak monetary controls, oversight, auditing, and reporting posed unacceptable dangers to the School.”
Bennett determined to chop ties with the affiliation and demanded it stop utilizing the school’s logos, however the affiliation has continued to take action to fundraise and promote occasions, based on the criticism. Later makes an attempt to reaffiliate the affiliation with the school, inside sure guardrails, finally failed, WUNC reported.
The school now claims the affiliation’s occasions compete with its personal and confuse donors. Bennett additionally must show to its present accreditor, the Transnational Affiliation of Christian Faculties and Faculties, that it has “enough oversight of affiliated company entities and auxiliary companies” and “full management over all its monetary sources,” based on the criticism.
