Our side should do better

20 Jul, 2008 by Ron Coleman

Paul Alan Levy sends this along:

The latest abuse of trademark law to suppress discussion of topics of substantial public interest comes from not from a company, like most of the trademark abuses previously discussed on this blog, such as here and here, but from the Republican National Committee, which has threatened to sue CafePress.com because its users are selling t-shirts, stickers and other items bearing designs that refer to Republicans and Republican candidates using the initials “GOP” or using various portrayals of elephants.

Well, the thing about CafePress is you don’t hardly have to even try to get them to pull merchandise. They obviously have made a business decision that the long-run cost of backing off from every threat is less than the risk of incurring litigation, probably from a legal-fees point of view rather than a realistic fear of liability. (Especially now!)

It’s embarrassing to me that “my” party (I’m registered Republican but stopped carrying a card when I stopped giving them money which I stopped doing when the Party organization stopped deserving it) would stoop to such shenanigans, but what can I do if they don’t seek out the best IP advice they can get?

Originally published on Ron Coleman’s other blog, LIKELIHOOD OF CONFUSION:®, his blog about legal developments in trademark, copyright, new media and free speech.