PTA SUES FOR-PROFIT RIVAL PTO TODAY
BY MICHAEL TARM – ASSOCIATED PRESS FROM THE HUFFINGTON POST | HTTP://HUFF.TO/OS0J4B
CHICAGO — The nonprofit PTA sued a for-profit rival on Wednesday, accusing it of denigrating the established group in a bid to siphon off members – a dispute that highlights underlying tensions as parents consider changes in how they interact with their children's schools.The National Parent Teacher Association, an iconic group that's been part of America's cultural backdrop for more than a century, has seen its membership fall by more than half of the 12 million members it had in its heyday in the 1960s. That decline, at least in part, motivated the PTA to file the lawsuit against PTO Today.
The upstart group put itself on a collision course with the PTA by setting itself up as an alternative.
The 15-page lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court in Chicago accuses PTO Today of engaging in false advertising, trademark infringement and other deceptive practices to "further continue to encourage members to leave" the PTA.