January 23, 2003 | FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Iowa Professor Owns Phrase Freedom of Expression, Threatens Suit Against AT&T for Violating His Trademark.
New York Times columnist Nat Ives writes, "Freedom of Expression, it turns out, may not be for everyone."
At a January 25, 2003 press conference in Chicago, IL, University of Iowa professor Kembrew McLeod will formally announce his plans to pursue legal action against AT&T for trademark infringement. The telecommunications giant used "Freedom of Expression" as the slogan for a recent print ad campaign, which violates Dr. McLeod's federally registered trademark, Freedom of Expression, which is also the name of his long-running publication.
"Yesterday, Mr. McLeod sent AT&T a 'cease and desist' letter, asserting that consumers might infer a link between the company and his anti-corporate publication, 'Freedom of Expression,'" wrote Ives in a January 23, 2003 New York Times column. McLeod objects to the fact that AT&T, in reality, cares little for freedom of expression; he is also concerned with the way intellectual property law is accelerating the privatization of our culture.
http://www.nytimes.com/2003/01/23/business/media/23ADCO.html
"Your company has usurped my client's registered trademark in its attempts to sell long-distance telephone service to college students," McLeod's Iowa City-based attorney Gregory Williams wrote in the cease and desist letter mailed to AT&T on January 22, 2003. "Consequently, we demand that you immediately cease and desist from further use of the registered mark 'Freedom of Expression.'"
"I want AT&T to think twice the next time they try to use 'Freedom of Expression' without my permission," states McLeod. He acknowledges the irony of trademarking the very phrase that sums up the American commitment to free speech. "But 99.999% of the time it is corporations that shut down individuals' Freedom of Expression," he said, "so it's satisfying that trademark law allows me to do the same to AT&T." McLeod is an assistant professor at the University of Iowa who has written about the impact of intellectual property law and the privatization of culture in his book Owning Culture(2001).
This is not the first time a commonly used phrase has been trademarked. Food manufacturing company Mrs. Smith's fires off cease and desist letters to bakeries that dare to infringe on its trademark, "home style." University of Massachusetts ex-basketball coach John Calipari trademarked "Refuse to Lose" and charges the school royalties to use his slogan. And Ohio University and Ohio State engaged in a lengthy, expensive battle over the word "Ohio."
The Trademark for Freedom of Expression (no. 2,127,381) was filed under Class 16 of the international register of services and goods, which covers printed matter, and the like.
The press conference is part of the Chicago opening of "Illegal Art: Freedom of Expression in the Corporate Age," an art show that runs from January 25 through February 21. "Illegal Art" (http://illegal-art.org) debuted in New York City, and it will also travel to San Francisco. The show is sponsored by Stay Free! magazine and the Chicago exhibit is hosted by In These Times magazine. McLeod's framed Freedom of Expression trademark certificate is part of the show, which highlights art and ideas on the legal fringes of intellectual property law. Works include the cover art of Negativland's infamous "U2" sound collage, which prompted a lawsuit by the Irish band's record company, as well as director Todd Haynes' "Superstar," a short film that sympathetically tells the story of Karen Carpenter with Barbie dolls, but which was enjoined from distribution.
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-- Matthew Snyder Philadelphia, PA