Froedtert sues Tim Michels' campaign
MILWAUKEE - Wisconsin hospital group, Froedtert Health, is suing the campaign of Tim Michels, candidate for governor.
Froedtert alleges Michels webpage and advertisements infringed on Froedtert's trademark by using photos from an event where the Michels family announced a $15 million pledge to set up the Michels Rare Cancers Research Lab at the Medical College of Wisconsin.
The lawsuit alleges the campaign did not have authorization to use Froedtert’s trademark. "This violation constitutes immediate and irreparable harm to Froedtert because its tax-exempt status—under 26 U.S. Code § 501(c)(3)—prohibits Froedtert from directly or indirectly participating in any political campaign on behalf of any candidate for elective public office."
The photos in question date to when the Michels family and the hospital announced the donation on March 25, 2022.
The lawsuit claims, "Froedtert has repeatedly requested that [the campaign] stop using photographs containing Froedtert’s trademark on its website and in its political campaign. In making this request, Froedtert informed [the campaign] that it was being contacted by its employees, as well as members of the public, who questioned whether Froedtert was endorsing Tim Michels for governor because of [the campaign's] use of the photographs containing Froedtert’s trademark."
Michels Campaign Manager Patrick McNulty issued the following statement:
"We certainly had no intention of offending any of the recipients of Tim and Barbara’s generous philanthropy. We have modified the ad about the $15 million donation to the Medical College of Wisconsin, per Froedert’s request, and expect this is the end of the matter. Politics shouldn’t sully efforts to cure rare cancers, a cause about which Tim and Barbara care deeply."
Tim and Barbara Michels' daughter Sophie was diagnosed with a rare brain cancer almost a decade ago. Her journey started at the Medical College of Wisconsin.
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"We’re happy, we’re ecstatic to have this gift put these efforts here on jet fuel if you will," donor Tim Michels said at the announcement ceremony in March.
Sophie Michels
"This is home, so being able to get treated for my cancer right here in Milwaukee was amazing," Sophie Michels said at the announcement ceremony.
Froedtert and the Medical College of Wisconsin Cancer Center
"You don’t have to go to New York or Europe or anywhere to get the first-rate treatment that there is right here in Milwaukee, right here on this campus with Froedert and Children’s and MCW. This is as good as oncology and cancer research anywhere in the world," Tim Michels said at the event.
"On behalf of all of us, the larger family of health care providers in this region, thank you so much," Dr. John Raymond, President and CEO of Medical College of Wisconsin said at the March announcement.
In the lawsuit, filed Oct. 25, 2022, Froedtert Health asks a federal judge to issue a temporary restraining order and injunction banning the campaign from using the photos unless they blur out the hospital’s trademark and a hospital official in the image. The suit also asks to award Froedtert "any other relief that is just, proper, and equitable."
