Health care product manufacturer Johnson & Johnson filed suit August 8 against the American Red Cross over use of the red cross emblem on licensed products like first aid kits, nail clippers and toothbrushes. Four licensing partners of the relief organization are also named in the suit.

In the suit, J. & J. demands the Red Cross stop using the emblem on products sold to the public and for the destruction of the Red Cross' inventory of all of the products in question. J. & J. is also asking for proceeds with interest from sales of the licensed products, punitive damages and attorney fees.

J. & J. charges it first used the red cross design and word trademarks in 1887, before the formation of the American Red Cross. According to the suit, a 1895 agreement with the Red Cross gave J. & J. exclusive rights to the emblem for use as a trademark commercially for “chemical, surgical and pharmaceutical goods.”

In 1900, a Congressional charter awarded the Red Cross right to use the emblem in connection with its humanitarian efforts. In 2004, the Red Cross began to license its name and emblem to be used on first aid and disaster-preparedness products.

According to the lawsuit, “Carrying out a commercial enterprise or business is not and never has been one of the purposes of the American Red Cross.” The Red Cross counters that all the profits it receives from these products are reinvested in humanitarian programs and services.

“For a multibillion dollar drug company to claim that the Red Cross violated a criminal statute that was created to protect the humanitarian mission of the Red Cross–simply so that J. & J. can make more money–is obscene,” said American Red Cross President and CEO Mark W. Everson in a statement. “… I hope that the courts and Congress will not allow Johnson & Johnson to bully the American Red Cross.”

In a statement from J. & J., the company expressed “great respect” for Red Cross relief work and noted it attempted to resolve the matter through “cooperation and discussion” and offered mediation “to no avail.”