The lawsuit was filed in late 2018, a year after the Boy Scouts announced that boy scouting and cub scouting would be open to girls.
NEW YORK — A federal judge on Thursday tossed out a lawsuit in which the Girl Scouts claim that the Boy Scouts are creating marketplace confusion and damaging their recruitment efforts through their use of words such as “scouts” and “scouting.” Manhattan Judge Alvin K. Hellerstein ruled that the Boy Scouts of America can describe their activities as “scouting” without referring to gender and that the matter does not need to be put to a jury. Hellerstein said his written decision caps a “serious, contentious and expensive” litigation and necessitates dismissal of the lawsuit brought by the Girls Scouts of the United States of America. The lawsuit was filed in late 2018, a year after the Boy Scouts announced that boy scouting and cub scouting would be open to girls, leading the two organizations to compete for members after social trends and a rise in sports league participation drove down membership for decades.
