In a legal filing Monday, “Mormon Stories“ podcaster John Dehlin made it clear that he and his organization are not backing down from a federal court battle with The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints over the show’s branding and its use of the term “Mormon.”

Instead, Dehlin and the Open Stories Foundation accuse the church of weaponizing trademark and copyright laws to silence the podcast known for its criticisms of the Utah-based faith.

“The LDS Church does not own the word ‘Mormon,’” Dehlin said in a news release announcing the response to the church’s April lawsuit, “and it should not be allowed to use intellectual property law to control how people discuss Mormon culture, history, doctrine or lived experience.”

Asked Monday about the latest court filing, the church did not provide a statement.

Attorneys for the faith have accused “Mormon Stories” of mimicking church branding with the “intent to capitalize on and increase confusion.”

Dehlin launched “Mormon Stories” more than 20 years ago. But it wasn’t until last November that the host, who was excommunicated in 2015 for “apostasy,” received an email from Intellectual Reserve Inc., an arm of the church tasked with managing its intellectual property.

The email asserted that the platform’s use of the “Mormon” moniker — when paired with other visuals trademarked by the church, specifically the Christus symbol and a “light rays” design used to illuminate text, plus copyright images — could lead some to infer that “Mormon Stories” is affiliated with the global faith of 17.8 million members.

At least three other podcasts, all critical of the faith, received similar emails at the time.

Asked why it was targeting Dehlin and other critical voices, the church provided a general statement in December explaining that it, “like thousands of organizations, holds registered trademarks to prevent confusion about what is and isn’t official church content or content otherwise affiliated with or approved by the church.”

It continued: “When we identify trademark or copyright infringement, our typical first step is to contact the individual privately to request they update their materials, with the goal of resolving the matter amicably. We apply this approach consistently, with church members and nonmembers alike.”

Changes made

Dehlin dropped the light rays and swapped a navy blue color scheme — used by the church — for orange.

The podcaster drew the line, however, at scrapping the “Mormon” moniker, and mediation talks followed.

“We made substantial changes in good faith,” Dehlin said in Monday’s release, “because we believed reasonable compromise could resolve this matter.”

In contrast, he said, “the church took an all-or-nothing, one-sided approach” before going on to “to publicly mischaracterize what happened in mediation.”

The church sues

In its April lawsuit, the church accused “Mormon Stories” of “intentionally and willfully” displaying copyright imagery, including after agreeing during mediation not to do so — a point Dehlin denies.

The suit acknowledged Dehlin’s willingness to make “some changes” in mediation but argued the podcaster forced the church’s hand after he refused to “take the actions needed to sufficiently address the confusion” he and his team had created.

As an example, the suit cited Dehlin’s refusal to add a disclaimer at the beginning of every podcast episode that the show is not affiliated with the faith.

For his part, Dehlin wrote on the Mormon Stories website that his organization added a clarification of nonaffiliation to every page of the site — as well as in the description of the podcast on every platform where users access it.

‘First Amendment concerns’

Dehlin’s legal response and counterclaims — filed Monday in Utah’s U.S. District Court — argue that the church has “improperly maintained federal registrations for abandoned marks using deceptive means.”

It has done so, the filing reads, as a way to use “the process and expense of litigation, rather than the merits of the claims, to compel” Dehlin and others “to stop or restrict the impact of their podcasting operations.”

In particular, the counterclaim argues that the church has voided its trademark of the “Mormon” name.

The term, it reads, “belongs to the public — including the members of the over 400 different Mormon sects currently existing nationwide that trace their heritage back to the founder of Mormonism, Joseph Smith.”

In a statement on the Mormon Stories website, Dehlin compared trying to own the right to the word “Mormon” to attempting to claim singular usage of “Christian,” “Catholic,” “Jewish” or “Muslim.”

The church’s lawsuit, he reasoned, raises “serious First Amendment concerns” far beyond his own work.

“Hundreds of organizations, churches, businesses, websites, podcasts, blogs and commentators use the word ‘Mormon’ descriptively,” he said. “Mormon Stories believes the church’s legal position, if accepted, could encourage broader efforts to control independent uses of terminology associated with the Mormon faith, culture and community.”

To date, The Salt Lake Tribune has not received any communication from church lawyers regarding its news-based “Mormon Land” podcast and Mormon Land newsletter.

Who owns ‘Mormon’?

Cara Gagliano — an intellectual property attorney for the nonprofit Electronic Frontier Foundation, agreed that the church can no longer claim ownership of “Mormon.”

Per common law, a trademark is voided when it becomes too generic or an organization discontinues its usage with no intent to resume. The second is often difficult to prove, said Gagliano, who in 2016 successfully represented the Mormon Mental Health Association in a similar case.

“But, in this case, you actually have them taking affirmative, clear acts to abandon it, to say we don’t intend to use this term anymore,” Gagliano told The Tribune last December.

As evidence, the attorney pointed to faith leaders’ repeated requests in recent years to be known by the full name of the church and urging members, media and scholars not to use “Mormon” when referring to the faith or its adherents.