Opus Dei sues Danish card game maker

November 22, 2012: Opus Dei is suing a Danish publisher for alleged trademark violations involving a card game titled "Opus Dei. Existence After Religion," according to an AP report in The Australian.

Public hearings in the suit began Wednesday, and Opus Dei spokeswoman Joanna Engstedt told The Associated Press that Dema Games, the publisher of the philosophy-themed, strategy-based game, has no right to the use her organisation's name, which means "work of God" in Latin.

Dema Games, a small company, obtained a copyright for the full name of the card game in 2009, and claims on its Facebook page that "no one entity can claim sole rights to religious concepts of any kind." The game is the brainchild of a philosophy student, Mark Rees-Andersen, 28, (Pictured) who launched it in January 2009.

Opus Dei was founded in Spain in 1928 by a Catholic priest and given official Vatican approval by Pope Pius XII in 1950.

In Denmark, Opus Dei is demanding that the game's trademark registration in the country be deleted. It also is seeking 300,000 kroner ($49,500) in financial compensation and closure of the website where the game is on sale, according to Janne Glaesel, defense lawyer for Rees-Andersen and for Dema Games.