Mormon Church to Sue Canadian Polygamist over Corporate Name

This article was last updated on April 16, 2022

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A Salt Lake City-based church, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, officially filed a legal complaint on Thursday to sue a Canadian polygamist, Winston Blackmore, for using the church’s name. According to the lawsuit filed by LDS Church in a British Columbia court, Blackmore leads a community that formerly followed the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. However, the lawsuit points out that Blackmore registered his sect’s name as the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints Inc. in 2010.

Consequently, the LDS Church claims that Blackmore “misappropriated the names, identity and reputation” of the Utah-based faith. The LDS Church has asked the court to order Blackmore to surrender the corporate name. Although both the LDS and the FLDS follow teachings of Mormonism founder Joseph Smith, the former later abandoned polygamy as a tenet in 1890. According to the lawsuit, the public is confused between the two churches and that defames and harms the LDS Church. The lawsuit says that “the defendant is depreciating the plaintiffs’ reputation and good will by its wrongful registration and activities.”

In addition to that, the lawsuit also goes on to complain that it’s suspected that the confusion has led Blackmore to collect donations that were originally intended for the LDS Churchs. However, there was no evidence of that claim in the lawsuit The Director of British Columbia public affairs for the LDS Church, Alan Herrington, refused to comment on the matter when approached by the media and instead referred to the lawsuit.