For the sake of jobs and culture, copyright law must be protected; The Hill, August 2, 2017

John Singleton, The Hill; For the sake of jobs and culture, copyright law must be protected

"The American film and television industries sit at the intersection of art and commerce. Although we often like to think we are simply making art, we also need to make back the investors’ money. And, like in any business, investors want to see a potential path to that profitable return before signing a check. That was as true in 1991 as it is today. The difference is that the emergence of online piracy has had a measureable effect on the health of our industry, threatening the financial success of every single television show, indie film and summer blockbuster.

It’s easy to look at piracy in a vacuum and chalk the illegal streaming of a movie up to a mere $5 or $10 loss for Hollywood investors. Yet the aggregate cost of piracy goes far beyond that. It makes film and television companies far more risk-averse, narrowing their output to that which seems the most bankable, thereby creating a climate in which no one would be willing to take a chance on a 24-year-old with a script about inner city life.

And if they’re not taking those chances, then who is? Where does the next Kenneth Lonergan come from? Sofia Coppola? James Gunn? Paul Greengrass? John Singleton?"

‘We can change the meaning’: Trademarks filed for n-word after Supreme Court decision; Washington Post, August 1, 2017

Justin Wm. Moyer, Washington Post; ‘We can change the meaning’: Trademarks filed for n-word after Supreme Court decision

"Gene Quinn, founder of the intellectual property blog IP Watchdog, said trademarking epithets to limit their use was a “laudable purpose,” but difficult to achieve.

To be maintained, trademarks must be used in interstate commerce, he said, and are awarded in different classes, such as clothing, food or video games. Anyone trying to erase these words from the marketplace would simultaneously need to put them into the marketplace."

Brush Yourself Off And Try Again: An Invention Story; NPR, August 4, 2017

Joe Palca, NPR; Brush Yourself Off And Try Again: An Invention Story

"We told the story of MD Brush in 2014. At that point, it had taken seven years to go from the idea for a new toothbrush to an actual product: seven years of designs, redesigns, re-redesigns, manufacturing obstacles, marketing stumbles and website crashes. When our story aired in August 2014, a production run of 100,000 MD Brushes was underway at a factory in Vietnam.

But not long after the first shipment arrived in the U.S., they ran into the dental industrial complex. One of the big toothbrush companies filed suit against them, accusing them of patent infringement."

For Second Time, Appeals Court Hears GSU E-Reserves Case; Publishers Weekly, August 4, 2017

Andrew Albanese, Publishers Weekly; For Second Time, Appeals Court Hears GSU E-Reserves Case

"In what the plaintiff publishers’ attorney Bruce Rich called a “seemingly never-ending case,” an appeals court last week heard oral arguments in the long-running Georgia State University (GSU) e-reserves case for a second time. And judging by the court’s questions, the case could still be far from a conclusion.

In the hearing, which went for just over an hour, a three-judge panel of the 11th Circuit in Atlanta, once again pressed attorneys for the fault lines in the decade-old copyright case case, with much of the hearing focusing on whether Judge Orinda Evans correctly evaluated the fourth factor of the four factor fair use test (the effect on the market), and then properly weighted that factor in making her fair use determinations."

Canada’s intellectual property strategy must play to the country’s strengths; The Globe and Mail, August 4, 2017

Dan Breznitz and Mark Fox, The Globe and Mail; Canada’s intellectual property strategy must play to the country’s strengths

"In the last 40 years, Canada has been acting as the open-source laboratory of the world – we funded and conducted the research, that is the prior art – and foreigners gladly patented it, gaining the property rights and profits. Nowhere is this disturbing phenomena clearer then in Artificial Intelligence. It is high time that Canada defend the openness of our open science and, at the same time, achieve all three of our national IP strategy goals: 1) generate and own more, and higher quality, patents; 2) defend and expand the freedom to operate for current and future Canadian entrepreneurs and companies; 3) educate Canadians to become the world's savviest users and producers of IPR."

Dunkin’ Donuts wants to leave a doughnut-sized hole in its name; Washington Post, August 4, 2017

Andrew deGrandpre, Washington Post; Dunkin’ Donuts wants to leave a doughnut-sized hole in its name

"Today, Dunkin’ Donuts is locked in a nationwide popularity contest with Starbucks and independent coffeehouses, aggressively competing for the loyalty of an increasingly calorie-conscious customer base concerned with staying fit, not just caffeinated. Doughnuts — while delicious — connote neither.

To that end, the Massachusetts-based chain is deploying a new marketing strategy. Its first vestiges appeared this week in Pasadena, Calif., where a new Dunkin’ Donuts storefront emerged bearing a new name and slogan:

Dunkin’. Coffee and more.

Eighty-six the doughnuts! (Or, rather, “Donuts.”)

The branding experiment in Pasadena marks the start of a trial period during which the company will gauge customer response and evaluate whether to take the new name nationwide. The review is expected to stretch well into next year, the company said."

THE STAR WARS VIDEO THAT BAFFLED YOUTUBE'S COPYRIGHT COPS; Wired, August 2, 2017

Jeremy Hsu, Wired; THE STAR WARS VIDEO THAT BAFFLED YOUTUBE'S COPYRIGHT COPS

"Still, the Auralnauts say they have few options to fight what they view as unfair claims on their content. Koonce suggested possible Content ID improvements that could prevent the same false claims from being repeatedly filed against the same video by different claimants. “People need to protect their IP, but don’t give them all the power," he says.

A smarter profit-sharing system would differentiate better between, say, a video of Queen performing “Bohemian Rhapsody” or the same song playing in the background of someone's wedding video. “What is needed is a more nuanced approach to how stuff gets monetized,” says Robert Lyons, a former digital media executive who is now a visiting lecturer at Northeastern University in Boston.

In any case, Lyons suggests that the Auralnauts video has a very good chance of being protected under fair use legal doctrine—the legal concept that allows for music and video parodies, among other exceptions to copyright infringement. “I think that a mere five seconds of the title’s music in a work that clearly is transformative and [that] poses no threat to the commercial potential of the original work would have a very strong fair use defense,” Lyons says."

To Protect Voting, Use Open-Source Software; New York Times, August 3, 2017

R. James Woolsey and Brian J. Fox, New York Times; To Protect Voting,Use Open-Source Software

"If the community of proprietary vendors, including Microsoft, would support the use of open-source model for elections, we could expedite progress toward secure voting systems.

With an election on the horizon, it’s urgent that we ensure that those who seek to make our voting systems more secure have easy access to them, and that Mr. Putin does not."

Global Intellectual Property Center (GIPC), August 2017

"U.S. Chamber Applauds Approval of White House Intellectual Property Advisor WASHINGTON, D.C. — U.S. Chamber President and CEO of the Global Intellectual Property Center David Hirschmann today applauded Senate approval of Vishal J. Amin, President Trump’s nominee for White House Intellectual Property Enforcement Coordinator (IPEC):  “The Chamber looks forward to working with Mr. Amin to ensure strong enforcement of our trade agreements; increased protections against illicit actors online; heightened security and efficiency measures at our borders and ports of entry; and support for effective voluntary agreements. “We were pleased to support Mr. Amin’s nomination for the extremely important role of White House Intellectual Property Enforcement Coordinator (IPEC). When Congress created this position as part of the PRO-IP Act of 2008, it did so with a strong bipartisan mandate to protect and promote our nation’s intellectual property assets. Intellectual property industries contribute nearly forty percent of U.S. GDP and impact nearly a third of the American workforce. Americans suffer real consequences when other countries or individuals disrespect, undermine, or infringe upon the rights of our innovators and creators. By uniting the efforts of the various executive branch agencies, the IPEC can be a tremendous force for good.” The Chamber sent a letter to Senate Judiciary Committee leadership urging “swift consideration” of Amin's nomination ahead of his confirmation hearing earlier this year. The most recent Department of Commerce data shows that intellectual property generates 38 percent of our nation’s GDP, two-thirds of all exports, and supports more than 45 million jobs in 81 different industries.  The Chamber’s Global Intellectual Property Center is working around the world to champion intellectual property (IP) rights as vital to creating jobs, saving lives, advancing global economic growth, and generating breakthrough solutions to global challenges. The U.S. Chamber of Commerce is the world’s largest business federation representing the interests of more than 3 million businesses of all sizes, sectors, and regions, as well as state and local chambers and industry associations."

Can An AI Algorithm Copyright What It Creates?; Forbes, August 2, 2017

Kalev Leetaru, Forbes; Can An AI Algorithm Copyright What It Creates?

"Today AI systems are still largely human guided, meaning that even creative algorithms like Google’s Deep Dream are still dependent on the input of a human artist to select both the training images to build the neural network and the image to manipulate. What happens, however, as deep learning algorithms become increasingly capable, eventually operating more and more without human oversight?

Imagine a future version of Deep Dream that is fully autonomous and sits by itself coming up with completely novel imagery that has never been seen by human eyes and which was not guided or suggested by any human. Who owns the rights to these images? If an art company uses such an algorithm to produce new works, can it copyright those works for itself or are the works entirely unprotectable? Or could the AI itself own those works and generate profit from them that it could use to improve itself?"

What to do if you’re accused of patent infringement; Utah Business, August 2, 2017

Katherine A. Hamer and Nathan E. Whitlock, Utah Business; What to do if you’re accused of patent infringement

"Just as you are looking forward to the weekend, you receive a cease-and-desist letter accusing your company of patent infringement. Or, worse, you receive a summons and complaint. You have been sued. There goes the weekend.

As CEO, CTO or in-house lawyer, you may have only cursory experience with patents. It never occurred to you that what you sell could have been patented by others. And, until now, you had never heard of the company that owns the patent. What do you do?

Remember that anything you put in writing, other than to your lawyers, is potentially discoverable. So be careful of that email you are writing that says “looks like we might infringe.” Don’t write anything you wouldn’t want to see on the front page of The New York Times.

What you will need is the advice of an experienced team of patent attorneys. But first understanding something preliminarily about the patent, your risks and your options, will make it easier to have a productive discussion with your attorneys."

Math Journal Editors Quit for Open Access; Inside Higher Ed, July 31, 2017

Lindsay McKenzie, Inside Higher Ed; Math Journal Editors Quit for Open Access

"The four editors in chief of the Journal of Algebraic Combinatorics have informed their publisher, Springer, of their intention to launch a rival open-access journal to protest the publisher’s high prices and limited accessibility. This is the latest in a string of what one observer called “editorial mutinies” over journal publishing policies.

In a news release last Thursday, the editors said their decision was not made because of any “particular crisis” but was the result of it becoming “more and more clear” that Springer intended to keep charging readers and authors large fees while “adding little value.”"

New Bill Calling For Transparency In Music Is Surprisingly Opaque; NPR, August 1, 2017

Andrew Flanagan, NPR; New Bill Calling For Transparency In Music Is Surprisingly Opaque

"Recently, Republican congressman Jim Sensenbrenner of Wisconsin picked up an unattended end of this squiggle, unveiling his "Transparency in Music Licensing and Ownership Act." Rep. Sensenbrenner's new bill is ambitious.

Sensenbrenner, who sits on the House Judiciary Committee — through which he has conducted (by his own account) 20 hearings on copyright reform — is calling for the establishment of a comprehensive database of compositions and recordings and those works' owners and identification numbers. It's a project that has been attempted at least once before, and which failed spectacularly due to the competing interests involved in its creation, as well as its significant cost, which no one has been inclined to shoulder. What's more, this database will be free and public."

Intellectual Property 101: What Your Business needs to know about Trade Secret Law; Forbes, July 31, 2017

Art Neill, Forbes; Intellectual Property 101: What Your Business needs to know about Trade Secret Law

"Co-author Teri Karobonik contributed to this post*

There are some things you don’t want your competitors to know about your business: customer lists, sales data, secret formulas for your products. As you now know by reading our guides, copyright protection doesn’t extend to lists/data, and although trademark law may prevent others from labeling their competing products in certain ways, it does little to prevent your competitors from misappropriating your formulas to create knock off products.

Enter trade secrets: the fourth major area of intellectual property which protects the public disclosure of your closely-guarded non-public information. Trade secret’s closest cousin in the IP world is patent law. In fact, since getting trade secret protection doesn’t require the expensive and time-consuming formal registration of patent law, some companies/inventors choose to forgo patent registration entirely and protect their products exclusively through trade secret before going to market.  

That said, even though patents and trade secrets can potentially protect similar information, trade secrets are distinct from patents for a huge variety of reasons. The most significant reason, of course, is that patented processes are granted protection  only after the inventor publicly discloses the invention whereas trade secrets are only protected until the information is made public.

Ensuring that your trade secrets are protected may be the only way to secure your competitive advantage in the marketplace. Conversely, ensuring that you don’t mistakenly disclose other’s trade secrets will keep you away from legal liability if you are a consultant, sales person, or just an employee entrusted with sensitive, confidential  information.

In this fourth and final part of this series (see part 1 on Copyright, part 2 about Trademark law, and part 3 on Patents), we’ll break down the last of the 4 major areas of intellectual property protection (trade secrets) and explain:

• what trade secrets protect;
• how trade secret protection is granted;
• whether registration is required, and if you’ll need help from an attorney to protect your trade secrets;
• how long trade secret protection lasts;
• what rights you are granted if you do qualify for trade secret protection."

Intellectual Property 101: What Your Business Needs To Know About Patent Law; Forbes, July 13, 2017

Art Neill, Forbes; Intellectual Property 101: What Your Business Needs To Know About Patent Law

Co-author Teri Karobonik contributed to this post*

"Patents often seem more mysterious than copyrights and trademarks. Everyone has read a book that has copyright notices attached to it, and you encounter trademark protected consumer products every day. You may even have your own brand as a business owner.

But patents, because they involve the type of nonobvious inventions inside the computers we use to read our books and inside the factories where those consumer products are made, may seem harder to conceptualize.

Because patent protection always requires formal registration (in the United States), and because patent applications generally require experienced lawyers to create them (and lots of money to file them), there are good reasons why some inventors and entrepreneurs decide to forgo patent protection altogether. That said, it’s important to understand how patents can affect your startup or your new product.

Existing patents may hinder your ability to create certain products without a license, while filing your own patents could create another revenue stream to capitalize on your new invention.

In this third part of this four part series (see part 1 on Copyright and part 2 about Trademark law), we’ll break down another of the 4 main types of intellectual property (Patent) and explain:

• what patents protect;
• how patent protection is granted;
• whether registration is required,
• when you should apply for a patent, and if you’ll need help from an attorney to it;
• how long patent protection lasts;
• what rights you are granted if you do qualify for patent protection."

Open data comes to Syracuse; WRVO, July 27, 2017

Ellen Abbott, WRVO; Open data comes to Syracuse

"Mayor Stephanie Miner says this kind of open data policy is the wave of the future.

"This is how people are thinking about governmental services in terms of transparency. And now that resources are as tight as they are. This will help you measure the effectiveness and efficiency of policies put into place."

A Boston firm labeled a ‘patent troll’ by some says it is actually performing a service; Boston Globe, July 29, 2017

Andy Rosen, Boston Globe; A Boston firm labeled a ‘patent troll’ by some says it is actually performing a service

"Whether known by the pejorative “patent troll” or the more plaintiff-friendly “patent assertion entity,” such repeat claimants generally keep a low profile.

Not Blackbird. Verlander and her staff display their pictures, bios, and links to social media on a company website that says Blackbird helps inventors who are outmatched by big companies with little incentive to respond to claims not backed by expensive lawyers.

Verlander sees herself as doing a service to combat rhetoric by what she calls the “infringer lobby,” which seeks to conflate all patent assertion work with the more dubious pursuits of unscrupulous trolls. There are bad actors, she said, on all sides.

“If in the end you can’t reward someone for their invention regardless of whether they make a product, then you’re discouraging people from inventing, and that’s bad,” Verlander said."

Sci-Hub’s cache of pirated papers is so big, subscription journals are doomed, data analyst suggests; Science, July 27, 2017

Lindsay McKenzie, Science; Sci-Hub’s cache of pirated papers is so big, subscription journals are doomed, data analyst suggests

"Q: What were the main findings of your study? 

A: The most simple result was that Sci-Hub contains 69% of all scholarly articles. We also found that the site preferentially covers articles from closed-access publishers and high-impact journals. [Editor’s Note: A breakdown can be found here.] I think it's interesting that Elsevier and the American Chemical Society had some of the highest coverage and those are the publishers that have sued Sci-Hub. Maybe they realized that basically their entire corpus was in Sci-Hub. There were a lot of journals where Sci-Hub has every single article.

Q: What about the other 31%?

A: Just because an article isn’t in Sci-Hub’s database, that doesn’t mean it can’t get it for you. We estimated that Sci-Hub was able to fulfill requests 99% of the time—that suggests the 31% of articles that aren’t covered by Sci-Hub are things that people really aren’t requesting."

Caution: misleading notices; U.S Patent and Trademark Office, July 2017

"Caution: misleading notices

Don't be fooled by potentially misleading offers and notices from private companies

Some trademark applicants and registrants have paid fees to private companies, mistakenly thinking they were paying fees required by the USPTO. We do not endorse any of these private companies and you are not required to use them.

Keep reading for information on potentially misleading offers and notices—also called solicitations—and how to identify them. You can also watch our "Solicitation Alert" video below. 

On this page:

• Trademark Information Network News Video: Solicitation Alert
• What is a trademark-related solicitation?
• What kinds of trademark-related services do private companies offer?
• How can I tell the difference between potentially misleading trademark offers and notices and legitimate USPTO emails and notices?
• Are the deadlines in these offers and notices accurate?
• I received a misleading trademark offer or notice. What should I do?
• Do you have any examples of potentially misleading offers or notices?"

Mississippi man files trademark for slang version of N-word; Clarion-Ledger, July 27, 2017

Sarah Fowler, Clarion-Ledger; Mississippi man files trademark for slang version of N-word

"Curtis Bordenave, who is black, filed an application with the United States Patent and Trademark Office for commercial use of n---a.

Bordenave's application comes on the heels of a June decision by the U.S. Supreme Court striking down a federal law that prohibited trademarks of disparaging words and symbols. 

"We plan on dictating the future of how we define this word," Bordenave said. "A young, black businessman from Mississippi has acquired the rights to the word. I think that’s a great ending to that story.""

Bondi Beach at centre of trademark tussle between Sydney cosmetics company and Abercrombie & Fitch By Jano Gibson; ABC, July 26, 2017

Jano Gibson, ABC; Bondi Beach at centre of trademark tussle between Sydney cosmetics company and Abercrombie & Fitch

"The United States retailer, which has no presence in Australia, is the registered owner of the 'Bondi Beach' trademark in the US for a range of products, including beauty lotions, body sprays and fragrances.

When Sydney company Bondi Wash applied to trademark its name in the US, it was prevented from doing so because of the similarity to Abercrombie & Fitch's existing rights.

The case has raised concerns about foreign companies gaining exclusive ownership of high-profile Australian place names in their branding."

Apple ordered to pay $506 million to university in patent dispute; Reuters, July 25, 2017

Jan Wolfe, Reuters; Apple ordered to pay $506 million to university in patent dispute

"A U.S. judge on Monday ordered Apple Inc to pay $506 million for infringing on a patent owned by the University of Wisconsin-Madison's patent licensing arm, more than doubling the damages initially imposed on Apple by a jury.

U.S. District Judge William Conley in Madison added $272 million to a $234 million jury verdict the Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation won against Apple in October 2015. Conley said WARF is owed additional damages plus interest because Apple continued to infringe the patent, which relates to computer processor technology, until it expired in December 2016."

The Case For Nations To Act On Medicines Access; Intellectual Property Watch, July 23, 2017

William New, Intellectual Property Watch; The Case For Nations To Act On Medicines Access

"A range of speakers, including top health officials from both a developed and developing country, last week laid out the case for why the world’s leaders must now launch a shift in the way medicines all populations need are developed and priced. The need for global collaboration is clear, speakers said, but who will lead?

The 17 July event was titled, “UN Secretary-General’s High-Level Panel on Access to Medicines: Advancing Health-Related SDGs through Policy Coherence.” The panel came in the context of the UN High Political Forum on Sustainable Development taking place during the week at the UN headquarters in New York...

Voice of Contention

Speakers ran over time so there was not time for questions. A US delegate in the audience told Intellectual Property Watch afterward that the critical statement by the US on the High-Level Panel from 16 September 2016 “still stands,” arguing that the panel report is “flawed” and is overly narrow."

Will East Texas be able to keep patent cases despite the Supreme Court?; Ars Technica, July 20, 2017

Joe Mullin, Ars Technica; Will East Texas be able to keep patent cases despite the Supreme Court?

"The following month, though, it looked like Cray had been thrown a lifeline by the US Supreme Court, which voted 8-0 to tighten up patent venue rules in a case called TC Heartland v. Kraft Foods. The high court held that companies can only be sued for patent infringement in the state in which they are incorporated, or where the defendant company has a "regular and established place of business."

Yet under the new rules, Gilstrap still wouldn't let Cray out of the district. Cray's only tie to the district was a single salesperson, who worked out of his home in the Eastern District. In the judge's view, though, that was enough to find that Cray had "regular and established" business in the Eastern District and would have to face trial.

Gilstrap's controversial interpretation of the TC Heartland decision has been scorned by lawmakers who have supported patent reform efforts. In a hearing about the US patent system last week, Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Calif.) said Gilstrap's move "rejects the Supreme Court's unanimous decision" and was "reprehensible.""

Amazon takes on small WA retailer Live Clothing in 'Glamazon' trademark stoush; ABC, July 24, 2017

Frances Bell, ABC; Amazon takes on small WA retailer Live Clothing in 'Glamazon' trademark stoush

"Live Clothing has been the registered owner of the Glamazon trademark for clothing, footwear and headgear since 1999, but has recently applied to extend the trademark to a wider range of retail and wholesale services.

But documents lodged with IP Australia show the application has been opposed by Amazon Technologies, which owns the trademark for the name "Glamazon fashionweek".

Glamazon is also the name of an internal Amazon social group for LGBTIQ employees, promoting diversity in the workplace."

Cady Noland Sues Three Galleries for Copyright Infringement Over Disavowed Log Cabin Sculpture; artnetnews, July 21, 2017

Julia Halperin & Eileen Kinsella, artnetnews; Cady Noland Sues Three Galleries for Copyright Infringement Over Disavowed Log Cabin Sculpture

"How much can you conserve an artwork before it becomes something entirely different?

This question is at the heart of a lawsuit filed in New York earlier this week by the artist Cady Noland. She claims that a collector and a group of dealers infringed her copyright by hiring a conservator to repair her sculpture Log Cabin (1990) without consulting her. The repair, Noland says, went way beyond the bounds of normal conservation."

Prevent employees from walking off with trade secrets; Virginia Lawyers Weekly, July 24, 2017

Clyde Findley and Ryen Rasmus, Virginia Lawyers Weekly; 

Prevent employees from walking off with trade secrets

"Intellectual property law is com­plicated. It protects legal rights associated with intangible and never-before-seen items. The IP field is full of jargon and contradic­tions, has few bright-line rules, and is studded with “I-know-it-when- I-see-it” tests and standards. It is little wonder, therefore, that many general practitioners throw up their hands when it comes to their clients’ IP issues, and either ig­nore these issues outright or refer the clients out to high-cost specialists. However, a generalist can take many precautions to nurture and protect her client’s IP hold­ings, particularly its trade secrets.

Although all forms of intellectual proper­ty can lose value when they are not properly looked after, no category of IP can lose its value as quickly as material that—with just a bit of attention from a business lawyer— can qualify for state and federal trade secret protection. Because careless and vindictive employees are often the guilty parties in trade secret misappropriation cases, atten­tion to the agreements and policies that gov­ern employees behavior is especially useful."

US Patent Office Issuing Cannabis Patents To A Growing Market; Forbes, July 24, 2017

Julie Weed, Forbes; US Patent Office Issuing Cannabis Patents To A Growing Market

"Can cannabis plants being [sic] patented?

Yes, this is presently a small area of activity, but may also represent opportunity. Plants can be patented in two ways, by way of “utility patents” (like 95% of all patents) or by way of a separate “plant patent” category. Utility patents are much stronger; plant patents are narrowly focused on a single “parent” plant and its direct descendants. By my count, there are currently only 5 US plant patent cases (4 pending applications, 1 issued patent), and 11 utility plant-directed patent cases (8 pending applications, 3 issued patents). Two companies are currently the main players in plants: the plant-focused Biotechnology Institute (Los Angeles CA) has 3 issued patents as well as 2 pending applications, and GW Pharmaceuticals (UK) has two plant-focused applications. GW is notable for having the largest cannabis-directed portfolio (80+ US cases) of all companies in the space, and is particularly focused on methods of treating diseases."

After Supreme Court Decision, People Race To Trademark Racially Offensive Words; NPR, July 21, 2017

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."