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.