Ailsa Chang, NPR; After Supreme Court Decision, People Race To Trademark Racially Offensive Words
"CHANG: I wondered about the intent, too, so I set off to find this other guy. And he turned out to be a patent lawyer in Alexandria, Va., Steve Maynard.
Why swastikas?
STEVE MAYNARD: Because the term has an incendiary meaning behind it.
CHANG: Yeah.
MAYNARD: And it's currently used as a symbol of hate. And if we can own the brand, we will be able to control the sale of the brand and the use of the brand as well.
CHANG: Oh, so you're trying to basically grab the swastika so real, actual racists and haters can't grab the swastika as a...
MAYNARD: Correct.
CHANG: ...Registered trademark.
MAYNARD: Correct.
CHANG: But there's a catch. Maynard can't just get the trademark, put it in a drawer and make sure nobody else uses it. To keep a trademark, he actually needs to sell a swastika product. So he will - blankets, shirts, flags. But he plans to make these products so expensive he's hoping no one will ever buy them."
Showing posts with label trademark applications for racially offensive words. Show all posts
Showing posts with label trademark applications for racially offensive words. Show all posts
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