There is a new report that the mother of Trayvon Martin is seeking trademark ownership for the phrases like “I Am Trayvon” and “Justice for Trayvon.” I have long been a critic of scope of claims under our trademark and copyright laws. Despite my sympathy for the family, I fail to see why anyone should have trademark ownership over “Justice for Trayvon.” Moreover, I would think that there would be a preference for unlimited and widespread use of such terms.
I fail to see why such a claim by anyone should not be viewed as categorically rejected as a common phrase. In this case it is a phrase that is part of political speech across the country.
The March 21 USPTO applications were filed by an Orlando, Florida law firm on behalf of “Sabrina.” However, news reports have the spelling of the mother’s name as Sybrina Fulton.
Should such phrases be trademark protected?
Source: Smoking Gun
Mespo ‘logical syllogism’ I am pretty sure that is outside of John;s understanding level.
I have stopped responding to the Zimmerman threads (cause too long for me although very interesting, and Malisha you are a wonder to behold (here and in the other threads). but this cannot stand without reply: Amazing, John Halverson, you know all about Trayvon Martin do you? Even Zimmerman didn’t. He just knew he had a gun that gave him a false sense of manhood and confidence and he wanted to shoot someone. This we know. He is the kind of person we need to get off the streets.
You are a mass of bigotry, hate, and prejudice. I feel sorry for you and hope you never get your hands on a weapon – because your post makes us know what your quarry would most probably be.
John Halverson, are you the one who came up with the tall story about the “MMA style punches” raining down on poor George Z?
You say: “one less drug dealing thief gang banger off the streets. Zimmerman should be clear of all charges, and the case should be dropped. The parents of him are trying to make this thug worthless person into a martyr for the black community when he would have ended up in jail sometime in his life anyway. Good riddance to bad rubbish.”
But nowhere in there do you actually address what happened that night, on 2/26/2012. Let’s assume, arguendo, that you are correct in everything you DO say (that you present as factual, NOT including the opinion sentence “Zimmerman should be clear [sic] of all charges, and the case should be dropped” of course).
Facts you propose:
1. Trayvon Martin was a drug dealing thief gang banger
2. Trayvon Martin’s parents are trying to make him into a martyr for the Black community
3. Trayvon Martin was a thug worthless person
4. Trayvon Martin would have ended up in jail sometime in his life “anyway” — whatever that “anyway” might mean.
5. “Good riddance to bad rubbish” which I will loosely translate as: “Neither John Halverson nor George Zimmerman is particularly troubled by the fact that Trayvon Martin was killed.”
OK, now what do we have?
George Zimmerman saw a person he knew to be a worthless person, a thug, a “bad rubbish,” a person who would have ended up in prison “anyway,” a “drug dealing thief gang banger.”
Because George Zimmerman knew all this about the guy he saw, it was obvious to him that “the guy” should be taken “off the streets.”
George Zimmerman took “the guy” “off the streets” almost immediately.
Right? I got that right, didn’t I?
According to Florida law, that is second degree murder. Maybe George was RIGHT and maybe it was GOOD that he did it. But it is second-degree murder under Florida Law.
Some people just have to go to prison for what they believe.
John, Have you actually looked at the evidence that has been released? Trayvon undoubtedly wasn’t perfect but even the worst that has been imagined about him isn’t death penalty material. Otoh, George, also not a perfect specimen, seems to have told a whopper or two. There are several blogs that have done some careful analysis of the evidence. They don’t necessarily agree on the details, but they do agree that George’s story just doesn’t hold up.
john Halverson:
Your physical dexterity at the keyboard while wearing a hood is quite remarkable. And you powers of bigoted prediction … well we haven’t seen that degree of venom since that march in Skokie some years back. Maybe I could suggest some methods of self improvement like anger management classes just plain old logic. For example: “I see some black people committing crime; I don’t see some white people committing crime; ergo every black person I see will commit crime” is not a logical syllogism.
Education does wonders to civilize people. You should try it.
one less drug dealing thief gang banger off the streets. Zimmerman should be clear of all charges, and the case should be dropped. The parents of him are trying to make this thug worthless person into a martyr for the black community when he would have ended up in jail sometime in his life anyway. Good riddance to bad rubbish.
Why should the Martin family have to appear hurt to our satisfaction or to anybody’s? Why should they now have to prove to anybody that they are interested in justice and not “only” in revenge or money? Why are THEIR acts being judged? They didn’t kill anybody! Are we allowing people to become sociopathic enough to go kill somebody’s kid and then start criticizing the way they react to that!
When my kid was about 7, 8 or so, he played a game with a friend of his and I was unaware (for the first half hour of this game) of what exactly they were doing. Then my kid came running out to me and crying about his friend having hurt him. She followed right after him, explaining to me (while looking scared) that he had punched her arm HARD and hurt her, and she reacted. She said, “I didn’t realize how far he would fall!” She was a year older and much bigger than my little half-pint. Anyway, I turned to him for an explanation and he said that they played a game where they punched each other, and he had punched her. He stated authoritatively, though, “But I didn’t punch her that hard; it didn’t hurt THAT MUCH!” I determined that neither kid was permanently injured and then waited until they were both calmer. Then I told my kid, “When you hurt somebody, YOU DO NOT GET TO TELL THEM HOW MUCH IT HURT; THEY GET TO TELL YOU HOW MUCH IT HURT.”
They apologized to each other and so forth. But the principle is an important one. Nobody should be telling Trayvon Martin’s parents how they should react to this. They are doing perfectly legal, perfectly lawful things. They have not hurt anybody or broken any laws. They are perfectly within their rights and everybody who doesn’t like it should exercise their right to remain silent.