We’ve wondered aloud here whether there’s any life left in the “scandalous or immoral” ground for refusal of trademark registration. Looks like there’s plenty. The Smoking Gun reports:
Government officials have rejected a Florida man’s bid to trademark the term “Obama bin Laden,” ruling that the conflation of the names of a U.S. Senator and the world’s leading terrorist was “scandalous” and wrongly suggested a connection between the politician and the mass murderer.
(Hat tip to David Krell.) On the one hand, at least someone, in the worst possible taste, has perhaps alerted the two men of each others’ existence, as incomparable as they are. That is something, evidently — as far as I can tell, the Senator doesn’t seem to have much to say about the murderer. Okay, so I’m not the biggest Barack Obama fan — but this is disgusting, on a lot of levels. Thanks to the PTO for dealing with it swiftly.
Originally posted 2007-02-13 13:12:11. Republished by Blog Post Promoter
