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April 12, 2006
Trademarking Corruption
Well, it appears that it isn’t just tax cuts, immigration and hurricane Katrina rebuilding that threaten congressional members these days – now they have to worry about trademark infringement.
“Conservative activist Grover Norquist is seeking a trademark on “K Street Project,” saying Democrats and Majority Leader John Boehner (R-Ohio) have wrongfully acquired the term to describe unethical practices that have nothing to do with his organization.
Far from running away from the term, as most other Republicans have since January, when lobbyist Jack Abramoff agreed to plead guilty to corruption charges, Norquist is embracing it.
His project is a branch of Americans for Tax Reform (ATR), which he heads. He says the project is an innocuous list of job openings for Washington lobbyists and a database of lobbyists’ political ties and federal campaign contributions.”
While there are no apparent pending registrations for “K Street” or “K Street Project” currently available online at the US Patent and Trademark Office, there is a trademark registration for “K Street Coffee” — could the two be considered confusingly similar?
Furthermore, since the purpose of a trademark is to indicate a single source or origin of goods or services – could Mr. Norquist claim that the term “K Street Project” is indicative of a single source or has it become more generic for lobbying corruption in general (a la escalator and aspirin)? If nothing else, it will be an interesting political “hot potato” when and if Mr. Norquist actually files an application.
In any event, what does Mr. Norquist want to do:
“Some people say Kleenex when they mean tissue,” Norquist said. “We will jealously guard the real phrasing the way Kleenex and Coca-Cola do. We will sue anyone who says it wrong and make lots of money.”
So, does this make Mr. Norquist a “trademark troll”?
Posted by Douglas Sorocco at 01:30 PM.
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