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Unauthorized Users of the Mark and Title

There are many informal, unofficial and non-commissioned users of the Goodwill Ambassador(s) Mark(s), but unauthorized users are considered a direct threat to the Goodwill Ambassador Commission if it is believed that they were established or came into existence to compete with the objectives of those who are duly commissioned and authorized by their official representation as a goodwill ambassador.

Unauthorized Users Bulletin

An unauthorized user can be any company, person or organization that knowingly or unknowingly uses the title, Goodwill Ambassador; or the mark, Goodwill Ambassadors; as part of their name, motto, or slogan in any way that is likely to confuse Goodwill Ambassadors or their public audiences to believe the "Unauthorized User" is the source, is associated, is endorsed by or affiliated with the Goodwill Ambassador Commission. Unauthorized practice is "The practice of creating legal relationships on the basis of goodwill for a nation, organization or cause by a person, typically an unofficial goodwill ambassador, who has not been licensed or admitted to practice goodwill or public (soft power) diplomacy on the behalf of a state or organization in a given jurisdiction shall not be acknowledged in an official capacity."

List of Unauthorized Users (Unlawful Use of Trademark)

The following companies may be infringing on our common law trademark "Goodwill Ambassadors" and copyright "Goodwill Ambassadors" based on the date(s) they were established or first published their work. None of them have taken out licenses as commercial users, communicated with us or given notice of their use of our trademark and copyright as part of their business names. All of them would have found "Goodwill Ambassadors" and "Goodwill Ambassadors of the World" and the United Nations Goodwill Ambassadors at the top of all search engines when searching the term "goodwill ambassador" beginning in 2010 until 2019. Since the turn of the century an Internet search is the first line of due diligence in selecting a business name.

Registration of a company in one state does not give that company jurisdiction statewide, nationally or internationally over a prior users rights of an unregistrable common law trademark or copyright claim being used descriptively for their own specific purposes, in this case to recognize official goodwill ambassadors with their commission. Our dominant presence and promotion of the idea of goodwill ambassadors during the time these companies were formed are careless and reckless formations based on ideals that we have worked with exclusively since 1992.

All of these companies are currently on our watchlist and it is under discussion whether or not to take actions against them if and when it is determined that they have caused confusion or harmed any commissioned ambassadors. The companies that appear on this list have a right to appeal their appearance here and request that the webmaster remove its name.

Unauthorized Companies (Users)

There is actually a much longer list that is more inclusive which observes all of the uses which is not as great a threat which includes very local uses and do not cause any ambiguation. Unlike regional programs these organizations all appear to infringe on Goodwill Ambassadors based on their name.

GOODWILL AMBASSADORS ASSOCIATION INCORPORATED (Australia, 1 Aug 2016)
GOODWILL AMBASSADORS OF AMERICA LTD.* (Kentucky (US), 26 Aug 2021)
EURO UNION OF GOODWILL AMBASSADORS AND PEACE LTD (United Kingdom, 3 Jan 2018-11 June 2019, SC584757: COMPANIES HOUSE, Edinburgh, EH3 1FD)
GLOBAL GOODWILL AMBASSADOR FOUNDATION (GGAF)* (Minnesota (US), 31 Dec 2019- , 3800 American Blvd. West, Suite 1500 #300-030, Bloomington, MN, 55431)
WORLD FEDERATION OF GOODWILL AMBASSADORS, INC* (Wyoming (US), 15 Sep 2017- , 13637 Indian Creek DR Middleburg Heights, Ohio 44130 USA)

Companies marked with an asterisk (*) have been referred to legal investigation and research with evidence of infringement.

There are many authorized users of the term(s) "goodwill ambassador(s)" even when presenting themselves as agencies or programs of other entities, there are also licensed users, implicitly authorized official users and all the commissioners. Some of our licensed users and commissioners also have issue with the organizations listed on this page and their use of the term, trademark, copyright, trade name or title because of the potential confusion it may cause and has caused to be referred for legal investigation.

There is abundant precedential case law that attributes to the common law protection and standing of trade names, trademarks, copyrights, these common law rights are enhanced by the Internet, search engines, name space and which came first or which was used first. Blinded Veterans Association v. Blinded American Veterans Foundation, Appellant, 872 F.2d 1035 (D.C. Cir. 1989) by Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg demonstrates justice and logic for resolving such a dispute; if not there are plenty of additional court citations that establish common law rights.

Impersonation of a Goodwill Ambassador

There are many criminal statutes that protect the "Goodwill Ambassador" title. Most states and local jurisdictions generally consider false personation a misdemeanor, except when impersonating a peace officer which is a felony in most jurisdictions. Under Federal Law however, it is a felony to impersonate a US citizen, a US government employee, a creditor, a member of a diplomatic corps, an agent or member of the 4-H Club, or a member of the Red Cross which is punishable by a term of 3-10 years and fines from $1,000 to $50,000 USD per incident, higher fines can be assessed. Title 18 of the U.S. Code Chapter 43 covers the crime of "False Personation" under §§ 911 - 917.

Title 25 of the US Code of Federal Regulations § 11.432 - Impersonating a public servant. A person commits a misdemeanor if he or she falsely pretends to hold a position in the public service with purpose to induce another to submit to such pretended official authority or otherwise to act in reliance upon that pretense to his or her prejudice.

Kentucky Revised Statutes § 519.050 - In Kentucky there is a law that prevents any person from impersonating a public servant other than a police officer, Kentucky Revised Statutes § 519.050 can be interpreted to mean a Kentucky Colonel, a Notary Public, any state employee, a forestry officer, a tax collector or even a rest-stop maintenance worker. Most states have similar laws that can be very conservatively interpreted and translated.

Infringement by Goodwill Industries on the Goodwill Ambassadors Trademark

The following links are evidence of confusion (found on Google) which can be greatly reduced or eliminated using disambiguation descriptions with JSON and HTML5 encoding. It should be adequate or easy enough in most cases to be careful with the English usage, syntax, and capitalization. Create a corporate policy or memorandum regarding usage of the program titles and trademarks: Goodwill® Ambassador, Goodwill's Ambassadors, Goodwill Ambassador, Goodwill Ambassadors, Goodwill Ambassadors®, Goodwill Ambassadors™, and the terms Goodwill® ambassador, Goodwill® goodwill ambassador, goodwill ambassador, goodwill ambassadors and ambassador of goodwill should all be defined to the competent webmasters and content editors. Or they can state that "Goodwill® ambassadors or Goodwill's ambassadors that work or volunteer with Goodwill Industries represent the organization and its purposes, they are not professional ambassadors of goodwill and are not recipients of a legal commission or title from a head of state."

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