MA World Services has a duty to guard the interests of the fellowship now and in the future. If World Services did not enforce our trademarks and copyrights within the organization, an outside entity could argue in court that we don’t care who uses them or how, therefore any outside entity should be allowed to use them however they like too. In a lot of ways, they would be correct.
We could then lose control of our trademarks that represent the identity of the MA program. Outside entities could then freely misuse MA’s name and logo to confuse members, trivialize the MA program, harm MA’s reputation, or imply an endorsement by MA of an outside enterprise, in violation of the Sixth Tradition.
By taking active steps to protect MA’s intellectual property and enforce MA’s trademarks, MA World Services ensures any use of the MA name and logo, which have come to represent the MA program, does not interfere with MA’s ability to fulfill its primary purpose, and “carry the message” of recovery. Tradition Five. The loss of its copyright and trademark rights, and the misuse of the MA name, logo, and literature that could then follow, would greatly affect MA as a whole.