Does America Be Great Again Yet? Yes It Do
Need more proof Donald Trump is bringing his business savvy to the entrada trail? He has already trademarked his "Make America Great Over again" slogan.
Aye, Ronald Reagan may take said it first, just Trump is the one asserting his commercial rights to the phrase.
Trump applied for a trademark for "Make America Great Again" in November 2012 -- mere days later on the final presidential ballot.
Trademark applications typically accept a long time to process. Trump just received the "Brand America Bang-up Once more" trademark in July of this yr.
Here's where information technology gets interesting: The trademark is specifically for "political action committee services." In other words, information technology doesn't say anything about hats, T-shirts, etc.
Ever since Trump started sporting his red chapeau in early August with "Make America Great Again," information technology'southward become a hot seller online. And not only on Trump's website.
Supporters can buy the hat -- in numerous dissimilar colors -- for $25 directly from Trump's campaign merchandise website. Or they tin get a ripoff version from thousands of other sellers for as picayune as $iv.99.
Related: Annihilation with Trump name is selling fast
Trump takes legal action against illegal sellers
Trump has had plenty of the copycats. Now he's getting his lawyer involved.
One of his showtime targets is CafePress, a popular website where people can print T-shirts, java mugs and other garb. The visitor received a "cease and desist" letter of the alphabet from Trump's lawyer at the end of September.
Trump'southward legal squad made information technology very clear there would be a lawsuit against CafePress unless the site stopped peddling "Make America Great Over again" merchandise.
"This isn't nigh money. This is about protecting 1's brand and trademark," Trump's lawyer Alan Garten told CNNMoney.
CafePress hasn't issued an official response, only it's telling that there used to be hundreds, if not thousands, of items available on CafePress with Trump's motto. Searching the site at present for that slogan returns nada with that exact phrase.
Trump has repeatedly stressed that he's a billionaire who is cocky-funding his entrada and doesn't demand outsider'due south money. Simply he has also made it clear that he knows how to build a brand. He's made a lot of coin licensing the Trump name on everything from hotels to ties.
Now he's ready to exercise the same with "Brand America Great Again."
Related: Donald Trump's economic system vs. Jeb Bush'south: Who wins
Trump applies for another trademark
To clear upward any confusion, Trump applied for another trademark on August 13. This i spells out that the trademark covers bumper sticks, T-shirts, tank tops, campaign buttons, caps and hats, baby clothing, blogs. The listing goes on. Information technology could take months, if not years, for that trademark to exist canonical.
In the meantime, legal experts say Trump may still have a valid instance against CafePress and other sellers.
Paul Callan, CNN's legal analyst and a former media police professor, says Trump'south lawyers tin can probable build a solid instance that America now associates the phrase "Make America Not bad Again" with Trump, similar to the way people associate "Only Do Information technology" with Nike.
"In the public mind, [Trump] has a legitimate argument that the phrase has a commercial secondary meaning," says Callan.
Related: How many jobs has Donald Trump created?
At that place are still thousands of copycat hats and shirts
For now, Trump'south lawyer says the campaign will "selectively" enforce trademark rights.
CafePress is hardly the only site with copycat Trump gear. At that place are over 200 items for sale with Trump's entrada slogan on Etsy, (ETSY) over 2,000 on Amazon (AMZN) and over 4,000 on eBay. (EBAY)
When asked for annotate, an Etsy spokeswoman said the company "takes intellectual holding and copyright concerns very seriously" and that the site "removes items when we accept proper notice." Amazon and eBay did not reply to requests for comment.
Trump isn't the kickoff to trademark campaign materials. Obama's campaign practical for trademarks for the rising sun logo, among others.
In this election bicycle, Republican Ben Carson also sent a stop and desist letter of the alphabet to CafePress for alleged violation of trademark and copyright.
The company issued a response to Carson: "To infringe from a slogan that is much used in this campaign, information technology doesn't take a brain surgeon to understand how baseless these claims are."
Source: https://money.cnn.com/2015/10/08/investing/donald-trump-make-america-great-again-trademark/
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