For events leading up to this landmark in A.A. history see: Box 4-5-9, News and Notes from G.S.O., August-September issue, 1993, pages 5-6: "Letting Go' of the Circle and Triangle as a legal mark" https://www.aa.org/newsletters/en_US/en_box459_aug-sept93.pdf
Extracts:
"...The symbol was registered as an official A.A. mark in 1955, and was freely used by various A.A. entities, which worked very well for a while. However, by the mid-1980s there was a growing concern by the members of the Fellowship on the use of the circle and triangle by outside organizations. In keeping with A.A.'s Sixth Tradition that Alcoholics Anonymous "...ought never endorse, finance or lend the A.A. name to any related facility or outside enterprise...", A.A. World Services began efforts in 1986 to prevent the use of the circle and triangle by outside entities, including novelty manufacturers, publishers and treatment facilities. The policy was undertaken with restraint, and only after all attempts of persuasion and conciliation had failed were legal actions considered. In fact, of approximately 170 unauthorized users contacted, only two suits were filed, both of which were settled at a very early stage.
By early 1990, some members of the Fellowship seemed to be saying two things:
"we want medallions with our circle and triangle," while others were saying, "we don't want our symbol aligned with non A.A. purposes..."
...By early June, the General Service Board reached substantial unanimity in support of A.A.W.S.'s statement that, consistent with our original purpose to avoid the suggestion of association or affiliation with outside goods and services, Alcoholics Anonymous World Services Inc. will phase out the "official" or "legal" use of the circle and triangle symbol..."
Not an anniversary to celebrate, but one that A.A. groups might consider commemorating, lest history is forgotten. Next time you are at an A.A. meeting, tell your fellow A.A.s that anniversary chips & medallions are not manufactured by A.A. They are outside enterprises. Tell them about Tradition Six, "An A.A. group ought never endorse, finance, or lend the A.A. name to any related facility or outside enterprise..." And tell them about the A.A. Circle and Triangle legal mark and what group celebrating with anniversary chips has cost the fellowship.
25 years on, the trustees appear occupied with countering myths and misconceptions that A.A. is a cult. One Class A (nonalcoholic) trustee says, "I do run into a minority of colleagues who still believe that A.A. is some kind of religious cult", another says, "The misconceptions about A.A. that I see come mostly from the alcoholic patient. He or she says, "No, I am not going to A.A. because it is a cult." (See Box 4-5-9, News and Notes from G.S.O., Summer 2018 issue, pages 4-5: "Myths and Misconceptions" https://www.aa.org/newsletters/en_US/en_box459_summer_2018.pdf
The increasing unauthorized use of the A.A. Circle and Triangle legal mark during the 1980s and the increasing perception that A.A. is a cult broadly coincides with the increasing co-opting of the Alcoholics Anonymous Twelve Steps as an addiction treatment by Synanon cult based Therapeutic Community (TC) treatment facilities. In a treatment industry that continues to evolve, overlapping influences between Synanon TC treatment facilities and institutions that may have initially started out as 12-step treatment facilities means that today there may be little to distinguish between the two treatments in many institutions. The Hazelden Foundation, for example, extended Synanon TC based treatment to all its facilities through the 1970s to the mid-1980s. In 2015, Phoenix House, a first generation Synanon TC entered into a clinical initiatives agreement with the Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation allowing them to "share best practices' to enrich both organizations".
Unfortunately for A.A., many treatment facilities publicly link their 12-step treatments to the name Alcoholics Anonymous, confusing some within and outside A.A. as to what A.A. is and is not. There also appear to be an increasing number of individual members and A.A. groups who behave in a cult-like manner after getting their guidance as to what they think A.A. should be from outside entities, including novelty manufacturers, publishers and treatment facilities.
For more details of the events leading up to A.A. 'letting go' of the Circle and Triangle as a legal mark see the AA Minority Report: "Synanon Cult influence on Alcoholics Anonymous, Addiction Treatment, and the Criminal Justice System 1968-2017
