Animal sanctuary settles trademark case

KEENESBURG — It’s taken on lions and tigers and bears. Oh my.

Also wolves and coyotes and foxes.

While the challenge of rescuing creatures of the wild has become a worldwide campaign that has endeared this rural Weld County nonprofit in the hearts and pocketbooks of many, fighting off another charity that attempted to ride off the Wild Animal Sanctuary’s good reputation was another battle altogether.

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But the Keenesburg organization has come out on top.

In May 2021, CEO Pat Craig and Wild Animal Sanctuary Inc. filed a federal trademark-infringement lawsuit against the Wild Life Sanctuary Fund Inc. The lawsuit alleged that the Arizona- and Montana-based sanctuary fund, with similar sounding name, website URLs, and website design, had usurped the Colorado organization’s trademarks and was gathering contributions from confused donors who thought they were supporting the Wild Animal Sanctuary.

The case filed in federal court was set for trial in December this year. But a year after Craig’s filing of the lawsuit, a settlement was reached. “We settled out of court,” Craig said. “They gave up the domain names and promised not to do it again,” he said. The domain names now point to Craig’s organization.

Craig had sought triple damages and the other organization’s donations attributable to the trademark infringement, along with a permanent injunction. 

“There were no assets in the corporation,” Craig said. To go after the individuals behind the corporation would have meant another lawsuit and more time. So he settled for stopping the practice as it applies to the Wild Animal Sanctuary.

Craig is hopeful that federal entities will investigate and take action. BizWest’s review of the Wild Life Sanctuary Fund’s operations at the time Craig filed his lawsuit found that the founders of that group also ran numerous other nonprofits from the same address and used the same phone numbers. Among them: Wild Animal Preservation Fund, Feeding Hungry Children Inc. Puppies Kittens Rescue Fund, Diabetes Aid Prevention Fund, Anti-Animal Cruelty Campaign, Save the Animals, Cancer Aid Prevention Fund, Feeding America’s Children and more.

A call to Charities America, the umbrella organization over these groups, resulted in a recorded message from Lon Taylor, the founder of the group, and no return call.

Several of the charities under the umbrella still have active websites as of today.