Republican National Committee Plans to Sue CafePress...

[mandy]

...for allowing CafePress users to promote Republican candidates.  tolensmiley:

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...

...although some of the uses of the elephant and "GOP" are certainly critical of the GOP, the majority of the images over which the RNC has threatened to sue reflect positive opinions about Republicans.  Several designs simply put the elephant logo on a t-shirt, so that the wearer can walk around bragging about his or her adherence to Republicanism.  Others make highly favorable comments on Republicanism, such as a design portraying a larger elephant trailed by two smaller elephants and the words, "I'm raising my children right," or a picture of an elephant and the initials GOP accompanied by "Don't be an ass, Go Republican."  Several other designs place an elephant image next to the name of a Republican candidate.  Shouldn't the RNC want more of these images displayed?...

full article: http://pubcit.typepad.com/clpblog/2008/0...c-for.html

[rose]

I liked this comment someone left on TechDirt about the lawsuit threat
http://techdirt.com/articles/20080717/1535171711.shtml

I know, intellectually, that there are smart republicans. Statistics, averages and all...

But stories like this tend to confirm what my heart says: conservatives are greedy inbred morons.

[mandy]

Update: The Republican National Committee Decides NOT to Sue CafePress:

I am pleased to announce that, in a response to public outcry as well as the prospect of a declaratory judgment, the Republican National Committee has renounced the vast majority of the trademark claims that it advanced with a threat of litigation against CafePress for allowing its users to sell Tshirts and other items displaying images that included the acronym “GOP” and the “official elephant logo” in which it has a registered trademark.

Under the terms of the agreement, the RNC agreed to drop most of the claims it had advanced against CafePress and its users.  Those CafePress users who do no more than put the “official elephant logo” or the initials “GOP,” on a tshirt, will use a licensing provision on the RNC web through which, the RNC has represented, permission is freely given. While the request for a licence is being considered, the products will remain on the CafePress site.  CafePress has not agreed to remove them even if the license is refused.  At the same time, the RNC admits that it has no claim against anybody who combines either an elephant or the acronym GOP with expressive words or design elements (whether positive or negative toward the Republicans...

full article: http://pubcit.typepad.com/clpblog/2008/0...up-tr.html