Imperial President’s Newest Lawbreaking: Violating Trademark Laws

by Warner Todd Huston | January 31, 2014 1:12 pm

With his introduction of his new (and useless) MyRA investment program, we discover that President Obama is so dismissive of following the law, he doesn’t even think that he has to abide by trademark and copyright laws.

A law abiding entrepreneur has one chore to satisfy before launching a new ad campaign, product, or offering and that is to search the trademark and copyright lists to make sure he isn’t stealing someone else’s intellectual property. But not if you’re president, apparently. No if you’re Barack Obama you can steal someone’s trademarked name with impunity.

During his low-rated, re-warmed State of the Union speech[1], President Obama proudly unveiled his new investment idea to the nation. He called it the “MyRA.”

“Let’s do more to help Americans save for retirement,” the President bellowed. He went on to say, “Today most workers don’t have a pension. A Social Security check often isn’t enough on its own. And while the stock market has doubled over the last five years, that doesn’t help folks who don’t have 401(k)s.”

That’s all true enough. But Obama had a “new” idea to solve these problems.

“That’s why tomorrow I will direct the Treasury to create a new way for working Americans to start their own retirement savings: MyRA. It’s a–it’s a new savings bond that encourages folks to build a nest egg.”

“MyRA guarantees a decent return with no risk of losing what you put in,” he explained.

After that he went on another attack-the-rich rant that shows he really doesn’t want people to become wealthy, but that is another story.

But, boy, this MyRa idea sure sounds great, doesn’t it? Maybe so. But it for sure sounded a bit familiar to Doug Lawson, president and CEO of Kingdom Trust.

Why did it sound familiar? Because Lawson trademarked the name MyRA[2] four years ago when his bank introduced its own MyRA savings product.

You see, the President blundered forward appropriating the name “MyRA” without bothering to do the due diligence that all others are forced to do before starting a new campaign; searching trademarks and copyrights to make sure no theft is occurring.

Ah, but not this imperial president. He doesn’t feel any need to abide by the law.

Endnotes:
  1. speech: http://www.nytimes.com/2014/01/29/us/politics/state-of-the-union-address-text.html?_r=0
  2. Lawson trademarked the name MyRA: http://cnsnews.com/news/article/barbara-hollingsworth/oops-ceo-says-name-obama-s-new-ira-program-already-taken

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