A California federal court has entered a permanent injunction against Political Media, Inc. and Constitutional Rights PAC ("CRPAC"), following a complaint filed on June 30, 2021 by the Ronald Reagan Presidential Foundation and Institute (the "Reagan Foundation"). I wrote about that lawsuit here.
In short, the Reagan Foundation sued Political Media and CRPAC, under federal and California state law, for trademark and tradename infringement, unfair competition, cyberpiracy, and violation of the right of publicity. The Reagan Foundation asked the court to enjoin the defendants from engaging in infringing use of its marks, among other things.
On July 22, 2021, the court granted the permanent injunction. According to the injunction, defendants are prohibited from:
- "Infringing upon or using any mark, name, domain name, or other designation which depicts, contains, or consists of any name or mark confusingly similar to any trademark owned by the Ronald Reagan Foundation";
- "Using Ronald Reagan's name, image, or likeness . . . for commercial or fundraising purposes"; and
- "Advertising, displaying, selling, or otherwise distributing . . . [physical or electronic material] comprising or containing the Ronald Reagan Mark or the Reagan Persona," among other things.
As this case demonstrate, IP law may serve as an effective tool to protect or clear up political affiliations.
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