Leo Stoller is the jackass who registered a trademark on the word "Stealth" and now has a racket bullying people into paying him for a "license" to use the word (people give him small sums of money to get lost, though occasionally they sue and get big judgments against him). The NYT ran a piece about this goon, who also claims to own dozens of other common words and phrases, including "freedom of expression."
Now, it so happens that prankster and copyfighter Kembrew McLeod registered a trademark in the phrase "freedom of expression" years ago, and has been writing ironic cease-and-desist letters to entities who use it, and even wrote a book with that title.
The outcome is inevitable: Kembrew and co have sent a cease and desist to Stoller for his infringement on their exclusive rights to "freedom of expression" — said letter is full of dark, Orwellian hilarity. I sure hope that Stoller takes crayon in hand and responds — it would be fun to find more excuses to mock him.
In the course of policing FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION, we at FESC (consisting of the websites freedomofexpression.us, freedomofexpression.org, freedom-of-expression.org, and freedom-of-expression.com) have learned of your infringement, which can be found at this URL: http://www.rentamark.com/e-marks/E-I/e-i.html.
We are troubled by (1) your unrestrained use of FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION and (2) the fact that you have offered to license this phrase to third parties without permission. After all, not just anybody can utilize FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION, and it is clear that your use of this phrase constitutes unfair competition and a blurring and tarnishing of this federally registered mark.
FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION will be substantially and irreparably damaged should this infringement continue. We, therefore, demand that Rentamark.com immediately cease and desist using FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION within five days. We eagerly await your response.
(Thanks, John Joseph!)
