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Trademark Lawsuit Is PR Blunder for Texas GOP
Posted by Ernest Miller on Saturday, February 16 @ 17:01:19 EST Trademark
The Republican Party of Texas is threatening to bring a trademark infringement suit against the owners of a website that parodies the Republicans called EnronownstheGOP.com according to this Associated Press wire story on Yahoo! News (Texas GOP Wants Spoof Site Shutdown). The New York Times (reg. req.) also carries the story (Elephant's 'E' Irks G.O.P.). You can read the actual cease and desist letter from on the parody site (Republican Party wants EnronOwnsTheGOP to 'Cease and Desist' - Page 1 of the letter - Page 2 of the letter). The parody website is very similar in look to the official website, but points out the many connections between the Texas GOP and Enron. At particular issue is the logo of the Texas GOP (which isn't registered as a trademark), but is a blue and red stylized elephant in profile with a superimposed image of Texas. The parody site uses the same logo but superimposes the Enron "E" over the state.

Frankly, as Josh Marshall at Talking Points Memo points out, this is a really stupid move on the part of the Texas GOP. Not only is the lawsuit likely to fail, it has done nothing but provide world-class publicity for the parody site. Could it be that the firm threatening the lawsuit (Loeffler Jonas & Tuggey LLP) is working for the Democrats?

 
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Sixth Circuit finds no trademark violation in post-domain paths

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