Christian stores have just the Christmas gift for Facebook fans: A "Jesus Christ wants to be your friend" T-shirt that mimics the design of the popular social networking site.
Do you like shirts from teen retailer Abercrombie & Fitch? How about a Christian copycat that transforms the chain's name to "Abreadcrumb & Fish," a reference to the biblical story of Jesus miraculously feeding the multitudes with bread and a few fish?
American retailers sell about $4.6 billion worth of Christian products annually. Some are spoofs or spinoffs of commercial logos or brand names. Many such goods are illegal, trademark lawyers say, but companies often are unaware their names are being copied or don't fight for fear of being labeled anti-faith.
There are "iPray" hats to wear while listening to iPods, and the logo for the popular "Rock Band" video game was tweaked for a Christian necklace with a pendant shaped like a guitar pick.
Imitators include Christian versions of the Subway restaurant logo and the "got milk?" ad campaign.
Church marketing consultant Brad Abare has seen such stuff and doesn't like it, calling some of it "Jesus Junk." Abare, of the nonprofit Center for Church Communication in Los Angeles, said: "We think it's just dumb. It's not a true reflection of creativity."
Trademark lawyer Michael Atkins of Seattle said legal parodies of commercial trademarks are protected under the First Amendment, but such religious products generally don't fall into that category.
Abare wishes that Christians paid more attention to the "Thou shall not steal" commandment. "The whole claim for Christians in general is that God is the source of all creativity. I think there's something to being original that will speak to people in a way that we don't have to copy," he said.
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