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Brownbeauty123
"Cyniquian" Level Poster
Username: Brownbeauty123
Post Number: 421
Registered: 03-2006
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Sunday, July 09, 2006 - 09:57 pm: | 
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The actor Damon Wayans has been engaged in a 14-month fight to trademark the term "Brotha" for a clothing line and retail store, a search of the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office's online database reveals.
Wayans wants to dress customers in 14 kinds of attire from tops to bottoms, and use the controversial mark on "clothing, books, music and general merchandise," as well as movies, TV and the internet, according to his applications.
But, so far, his applications have been unsuccessful. Trademark examiner Kelly Boulton rejected the registration dated Dec. 22, citing a law that prohibits marks that are "immoral or scandalous." A previous attempt by Wayans was turned down on identical grounds six months earlier.
"While debate exists about in-group uses of the term, 'Brotha' is almost universally understood to be derogatory," Boulton wrote to Wayans' attorney, William H. Cox, according to the application.
Cox and other representatives of the actor did not respond to interview requests about the registration.
Wayans can appeal the rejection, but experts in trademark law differ on his chances for success.
Lynda Zadra-Symes, a trademark lawyer in California, said Wayans may be successful. She compared "Brotha" to the successful registration of Dykes on Bikes. The San Francisco Women's Motorcycle Contingent fought the Trademark Office for three years to overturn an initial rejection of a Dykes on Bikes trademark. The mark was published Jan. 24.
"Because the application was by a group of lesbians it was eventually allowed to publish," Zadra-Symes said.
"This is a great victory," the group proclaimed on its website. "It affirms our right to determine who we are and how we present ourselves to the world."
However, Tawnya Wojciechowski, another trademark attorney practicing in California, compared Wayans' application to the ongoing legal case where Washington Redskins trademarks have been challenged by seven Native Americans. "They're going to have a really tough time," Wojciechowski predicted.
The word "Brotha" is ubiquitous in hip-hop music, where it provides half of a rhyming couplet radio listeners never get to hear in the Grammy-winning song "Gold Digger" by Kanye West.
Ol' Dirty Bastard used the term 76 times in the 1999 album Brotha Please, not counting repetitions in a chorus.
In January, an episode of the late-night Cartoon Network series Boondocks was criticized for putting the word in the mouth of a fictionalized Martin Luther King Jr.
The effort to commercialize "Brotha" drew a sharp response from a black school official who participated in a forum about the word earlier this month at Arkansas State University in Jonesboro.
"I don't care for it in any form," said Dr. Lonnie Williams, associate vice chancellor for student affairs. "Either way you pronounce it, spell it, anything associated with it -- I find it offensive."
If Wayans succeeds in persuading the Trademark Office to permit the mark, he may have to deal with Keon Rhodan, a 29-year-old entrepreneur in Charleston, South Carolina, who has been using "Brotha" on a line of T-shirts, hoodies and other attire for six years in a part-time, trunk-of-his-car business.
Rhodan attempted to register "Brotha'Clothing" as a trademark in 2001 and was denied by the Trademark Office.
"They said it was disparaging," he said.
Rhodan, who is black, said that he's sold around 2,000 of the shirts at events. When he began selling the shirts, emblazoned with the term "Brotha," he thought he would take criticism, especially from older people.
"I was in the mall with one of the shirts on, and an old lady said, 'Where did you get that shirt from?'" he said, expecting the worst. "She followed me to the car and bought five shirts for her grandchildren."
Rhodan believes that affectionate use of the term within the black community should make it an acceptable mark, but the Trademark Office has thus far has not been persuaded by that argument.
"The very fact that debate is ongoing regarding in-group usage, shows that a substantial composite of African-Americans find the term 'Brotha' to be offensive," Boulton wrote in rejecting Wayans.
Though attempts to commercialize "Brotha" coincide with a generational shift in how the word is perceived, the clothing is still likely to test some boundaries, as Rhodan demonstrated in a phone interview.
"You couldn't wear it," he said.
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Kola_boof
"Cyniquian" Level Poster
Username: Kola_boof
Post Number: 2155
Registered: 02-2005
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Sunday, July 09, 2006 - 11:16 pm: |
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The sad thing...is that HE IS a "nigger".
He's just too stupid to know it.
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Abm
"Cyniquian" Level Poster
Username: Abm
Post Number: 5000
Registered: 04-2004
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Monday, July 10, 2006 - 11:15 am: |
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BB123,
Well. "Nigger" has been in the public domain WAAAAY too long/much for any one person to attempt to claim ownership of it. But I do think Black foks should seriously consider the essence of what Wayans has attempted to do.
Considering how frequently Whites/other co-op Black-speak into their media, maybe we should attempt to copyright and trademark catchy Black vernacular and then charge/sue them for a cut of their earnings from such. |
Mzuri
"Cyniquian" Level Poster
Username: Mzuri
Post Number: 820
Registered: 01-2006
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Monday, July 10, 2006 - 11:24 am: |
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What's in a name? If Wayans were serious about being in business, he wouldn't get wrapped around the axel with whether the USPTO will permit him to register nigga, dumbdumb or anything else. Besides all of the other reasons that they've cited, you can't register a common word, so he should get on with the business of operating his business. There's umpteenthousand other catchy names he could use, and if he has a good product it won't matter what it's called, so this is either a publicity stunt or he's not really serious about being in business. |
Abm
"Cyniquian" Level Poster
Username: Abm
Post Number: 5004
Registered: 04-2004
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Monday, July 10, 2006 - 11:34 am: |
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Mzuri,
What do you think about the fight announcer Michael Buffer being allowed to trademark "Let's get ready to RUMMMBBBBLLLLE". It seems to me if he could do that, A LOT of Black vernacular (e.g., Snoop Dogg's ubiquitous "Foshizzle My Nizzle") should be eligible for some form of copyright protection. |
Mzuri
"Cyniquian" Level Poster
Username: Mzuri
Post Number: 821
Registered: 01-2006
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Monday, July 10, 2006 - 12:12 pm: |
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Anyone can apply for a trademark. Buffer's is for a phrase or a word combination that's identifiable to him. He probably wouldn't have been permitted to register just "rumble" since that's a common word. I read that somewhere, I'm not an expert and I don't hold any trademarks. I do hold several copyrights though (for writings and illustrations) and I'm currently in the process of acquiring a patent for an innovation that I recently designed. I'm really excited about it and can't wait until I'm able to market the thing. Everyone's gonna want one  |
Cynique
"Cyniquian" Level Poster
Username: Cynique
Post Number: 4814
Registered: 01-2004
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Monday, July 10, 2006 - 12:47 pm: |
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Aren't words per se all in the public domain? I know authors or film makers can't copyright book or movie titles. |
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