A trademark infringement lawsuit will not be filed against Westboro Baptist Church, university officials said this week, even though the Iowa State logo still appears three times on the church’s Web site.

“At this point, I don’t believe we have initiated any legal action, and I don’t believe that there’s any planned,” said John McCarroll, director of University Relations.

A graphic containing the message “ISU FAGS” superimposed on the trademarked Cy logo is part of three press releases on the site, www.godhatesfags.com.

Members of the church, based in Topeka, Kan., also carried the logo on signs during their picketing of ISU’s graduation ceremonies in May. The anti-gay protesters oppose, among other things, the on-campus Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender and Ally Alliance.

McCarroll said the university decided not to sue because its likelihood of winning was not clear.

He said ISU was reluctant to give the church and its pastor, Fred Phelps, any more free publicity.

“I don’t think anybody likes that use of the logo,” he said. “But this organization has relished lawsuits in the past, so a judgment has to be made in what you want to accomplish with a legal action.

“One of their patterns of operation has been to pursue legal action,” he said. “There are elements in the Phelps group that want confrontation.”

Several organizations — including the New York Times — have complained about the church’s use of their logos, but Westboro Baptist has never been found guilty of infringement, said Shirley Phelps-Roper, the church’s lawyer.

Only one suit, initiated by an Episcopalian church in Topeka, was ever filed, she said, and that action was dropped before it went to trial.

While the university might have won a lawsuit, the victory would have been overshadowed by the renewed hate from Phelps and his picketers, said Paul Tanaka, director of University Legal Services.

“We just determined that it would not be worthwhile getting into a lawsuit with Mr. Phelps,” he said.

“We had some good arguments, but let’s be honest, why would we want to invite him to bring his troops up to Ames anymore?” Tanaka said.

“We thought it was better for the university and the whole community not to get engaged in that activity,” he said.

The members of LGBTAA, despite the condemnation the church has heaped on them, agree with the university’s decision not to file suit.

“We wish the university would have done more to protect their copyrighted material, but we understand the difficulty of the situation,” said Angie Chipman, president of LGBTAA.

“Fred Phelps is a lawsuit artist, and unless the university had an ironclad case against Mr. Phelps, they would have put themselves in danger of a countersuit,” Chipman said.

“It is a shame that people like Fred Phelps use their positions to intimidate and terrorize innocent people just because they don’t fit into a stereotypical middle American idealism,” she said.

One of the most outspoken members of the gay community, though, continues to criticize the university’s inaction.

“It’s suspect, that’s for sure,” said Curt Lund, sophomore in graphic design and advertising.

“If there was an anti-Christian or a very racist group on campus using the Iowa State logo, we have to assume that [the university] would almost immediately take steps to make sure their trademark wasn’t infringed upon,” he said.

Even if the university were to file suit, the members of Westboro Baptist would not be worried, their lawyer says.

“It would be absolute folly for them to [sue],” Phelps-Roper said via phone from her firm, Phelps-Chartered Law Office in Topeka. “We’re not going to quit using the trademark.”

Phelps-Roper, who is Fred Phelps’ daughter, said the church’s use of Cy is covered by the Fair Use Doctrine, a federal law that allows companies to use other companies’ trademarks when making commercial comparisons.

She said that the use of the logo is legal since the church is not trying to profit from it, and because there won’t be any “consumer confusion.”

She also cited an atmosphere of “robust public debate” as a place where critics can use the trademarks of the entity they are criticizing.

“ISU stepped into the fray. Now, they are open to criticism for that,” she said.

But Brian Pingel, trademark law expert and partner at Shearer, Templer and Pingel law firm in West Des Moines, disagrees.

“They certainly have a right to criticize the university, but I don’t believe they have the right to use the university’s trademark in a way that provides a disparaging or tarnishing use of the trademark,” Pingel said.

“It may not be on a [competing product], but it may be being used in a way that is a disparagement,” he said.

The prohibition of disparagement arises from a law passed by Congress about two years ago, Pingel said.