The opposition period allows for anyone to contest the registration of the mark, meaning it’s possible that neither man will end up with ownership.
Tecce doubted that either man would prove successful, primarily because “trademarks indicate a common source.”
Pro-Palestinian protesters from the Free Palestine Coalition assemble outside the BBC before a march through central London to call for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza on November 4, 2023 in London, United Kingdom. (Mark Kerrison/In Pictures via Getty Images / Getty Images)
“Here, no consumer is ever going to associate this phrase with these applicants . . . the only way to enforce the mark is through litigation – VERY EXPENSIVE litigation,” he stressed.
If they obtain the trademark, either man might become able to use it against protesters, because “a lot of the time, trademark law usurps first amendment law, mostly because trademark ‘speech’ is ‘commercial speech’,” which Tecce called “the lowest ‘form’ of free speech.”
Ultimately, he argued that a call to violence “will not, and should not, be the basis for a U.S. registered trademark.”
Protesters walk down Park Lane during the pro-Palestinian march through central London which has controversially coincided with the annual Armistice Day event, on November 11, 2023. (Richard Baker / In Pictures via Getty Images / Getty Images)
Another intellectual property expert told The Jerusalem Post that because the process to actually obtain the trademark takes almost a year to complete, the value of the trademark could fade by the time the applicants would take possession of it.
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Instead, the expert suggested that the application’s true purpose was to generate publicity. The fact that the two men who applied for control of the slogan are Jewish could also provide some fodder for the anti-Israel contingent, the expert warned.
Ackerman did not respond to a FOX Business request for comment by time of publication.
