The nonprofit ALS Association recently filed two trademark applications for “Ice Bucket Challenge” and “ALS Ice Bucket Challenge.” But after a flurry of protests, the organization that raises money to fund research to fight amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, better known as Lou Gehrig’s disease, reversed course. By Friday, one week after submitting the documents, the group withdrew the applications.
In a statement on its Facebook page, the nonprofit explained that it had filed for the trademarks “in good faith” to protect the ice bucket challenge from misuse and after consulting with the families who initiated the social media-driven challenge this summer. But it acknowledged that it had received messages objecting to the applications.
