“I guess to MoveOn, the First Amendment is only for the rich.” Who Can Afford To Be Sued By Them
This is one of the logos MoveOn.org doesn’t want you to see:
Last week it demanded that the site remove eight items, arguing that they violated MoveOn’s merchandising trademarks.
Trademark law doesn’t confer monopoly rights over all uses of a registered phrase or symbol, however, and it wasn’t created simply to protect the trademark owner’s interests. Instead, it’s designed to protect consumers against being misled or confused about brands. The courts have repeatedly ruled in favor of parodies and critiques; that’s why www.famousbrandnamesucks.com doesn’t violate famousbrandname’s trademark. And most, if not all, of the items targeted by MoveOn were clearly designed to razz it, not to trick buyers into thinking they were the group’s products.
Beyond that, it’s amazing that MoveOn would try to squelch political speech.
All content on this page is reprinted from Michelle Malkin:
“Amazing?” Not really. These are radicals who are out to squash their critics and political opponents by any means necessary.
I know, I know. Cafe Press has been guilty itself of political speech-squelching. But in this case, Cafe Press didn’t fold completely when the MoveOn.org cease-and-desist letters arrived:
“While we understand that negative commentary is unsavory, our shopkeepers’ parodies of the MoveOn.org trademark are permissible here, especially when one considers the First Amendment implications raised by the social and political importance of your organization, the policies it advocates, and the countervailing messages conveyed by the parodies,” wrote Daniel Pontes of CafePress to Carrie Olson, MoveOn’s chief operating officer. Olson had been the one requesting the takedown.
One of the targeted Cafe Press shop owners, Parsing Poet, sold items protesting MoveOn.org at “The PoliStew Cafe.”
He e-mailed me about his tangle with the legal mafia at MoveOn.org:
“I had a store for a few days called The PoliStew on CafePress. First off, get it straight. I’m not of the far right or left. I am military and I am pissed off over the Petraeus ad. So I started my shop to speak out about the group that supported it, and also to suggest that they don’t speak for all Dems. As of today, the shop is closed temporarily. I received a copy of this from Cafe Press, who got it from THE GROUP THAT SHALL NOT BE NAMED:”
From: ‘carrie@moveon.org’
Cc: Trademark
Subject: Notification of Trademark Infringement
To:
CafePress.com
Attn: Candice Carr
Intellectual Property Rights Agent
950 Tower Lane
Suite 600
Foster City, CA 94404Dear Ms. Carr,
I am contacting you as the representative of MoveOn.org, and therefore the trademark owned as “MoveOn.org” We have been alerted to an entire page of items on your website that infringes on our registered trademark, and we request that you remove all items immediately, and ask the poster to refrain from shipping any items purchased on this webpage. We also request that you give us contact information for the company / person who posted the items.
This content has certainly NOT been authorized by anyone at MoveOn.org, nor anyone affiliated with MoveOn.
Parsing Poet continued in his e-mail:
“”Cafe Press wonderfully told them about First Amendment Rights. Cafe Press told them to shove off, but went and removed some but not all of my merchandise that had the words XXXX-XX on it. Okay. So there. Well, you have to think with a friend like the left leaning group that paid big bucks to demean a four star general, that the Democrats have conveniently created their own in-house enemy. I decided on my own to shut down my store temporarily, retool, and come up with even more pointed campaign of their hypocrisy. It will support General Petraeus’s reputation, and it will refrain from use of their name, however, they shall be dubbed, ‘the #1 contributor to the Democratic Party THAT SHALL NOT BE NAMED.’ So go ahead, have a chuckle. Show the shirt on your blog:show the damned world. In fact, soon this photo will be on a MUG at my store! Tell everyone that a right leaning Democrat got shut out by XXXX-XX because they can’t even take dissent from within their ranks.”
Spread the word.
Parsing Poet is fighting back. Here’s his new shirt for sale (proceeds benefit military families):
Buy the mug, too!
Edward Padgett is a disgusted friend of Parsing Poet. He posted four of the images MoveOn.org forced Cafe Press to remove and he writes:
I subscribe to the MoveOn newsletter, and even considered hosting an anti-war rally in San Dimas, but now I want no part of this radical group and will remove my name from their newsletter subscription:Why is it, MoveOn organization can dish it out to our president and general, but feels threatened by simple slogans against them?:Move On used the First Amendment when they smeared the General’s name in the NY Times. However, they cite trademark infringement when it comes to anyone using theirs to criticize them on a t-shirt. It wasn’t. Trademark infringement would be if the shopkeepers were selling it as “official” moveon merchandise, which it’s clear by the lack of their logo and also the message that it was a protest message. Carrie Olson, COO of MoveOn also demanded the shopkeepers personal information, which amounts to bullying and threats. Fortunately, CafePress refused to give them that information. I guess to MoveOn, the First Amendment is only for the rich.
“I guess to MoveOn, the First Amendment is only for the rich.”
Someone should put that on a t-shirt, too.
***
I featured one of the banned logos at the top of this post. Here are a few others from The Polistew via Edward Padgett. If you’ve got a blog, it might be nice to feature one in Spartacus-style solidarity with the targets of MoveOn.org’s thuggish cease-and-desist campaign.
Go ahead, MoveOn.org. Suuuuuue:
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________
SPREAD THE WORD
HotAir is asking for photoshop submissions!
Blue Crab Boulevard sent this one:
If the Democrats win the Presidency in 2008 more Censorship is on the way:. | Pierre Legrand’s Pink Flamingo Bar
Another Nefarious Move On America By MoveOn.org
Bloodthirsty Liberal » Cease and Detest
September 29, 2007 - 01:53 PM on September 29th, 2007
[...] The Crazy Rants of Samantha Burns, Blue Star Chronicles, High Desert Wanderer, The Yankee Sailor, Right Voices, and Gone Hollywood, thanks to Linkfest Haven [...]
September 29, 2007 - 06:16 PM on September 29th, 2007
Hi,
I really do appreciate mentioning the moveon snaffle. I hope you will participate in the fundraiser at the http://cafepress.com/polistew.
Nothing will speak louder than if we can send 1000 kids to summer camp next year.
September 29, 2007 - 06:52 PM on September 29th, 2007
My dog took a dump in the back yard today. I am worried, very worried that the image of that pile is a symbol claimed by moveon.org to represent it.
What should I do? The dog doesn’t seem to be at all concerned, but I don’t want any legal trouble!!!
September 30, 2007 - 02:55 AM on September 30th, 2007
This hurts, but not my hand
I have no idea why I cannot use my left hand. It won’t work. That is why I am going to direct you to my hero’s site: �Bill and Bob�s� Excellent Afghan Adventure. He has returned from his mission…
September 30, 2007 - 11:32 AM on September 30th, 2007
Moveon.org is a serious threat to the future of American Liberty. It should be treated as just another enemy of America.
September 30, 2007 - 01:09 PM on September 30th, 2007
I came up with a slogan for a new t-shirt.
“If liberal democrats are so smart, why are so many of them living in poverty on welfare?”
What do you all think?
September 30, 2007 - 02:07 PM on September 30th, 2007
Mock Moveon.org
Michelle Malkin has put out a call to photoshop mock moveon.org. Hey – sounds like a good time to me not to mention, a worthy cause.
Here�s my contribution �
September 30, 2007 - 02:08 PM on September 30th, 2007
Oh, may I use that FAO?
September 30, 2007 - 10:17 PM on September 30th, 2007
[...] more of the photoshops and commentary at: 186 K Per Second.com, Right Voices, Protein Wisdom, Bloodthirsty [...]
September 30, 2007 - 11:39 PM on September 30th, 2007
Go ahead Pam. Here’s another one for you.
If the founding fathers were straight, tobacco smoking, gun owning, Christians who rebelled against high taxes, big government and spoke out against entangling foreign alliances, what in the Democratic Party platform IS patriotic?
October 11, 2007 - 10:05 AM on October 11th, 2007
Google has banned advertisements critical of MoveOn.org
The ads via The Maine Web Report :
And a nice response via MM
This is the Soros way of influencing policy! Welcome to George Soros’s America.
Internet giant Google has banned advertisements critical of MoveOn.org, the far-left advocacy group that …