Hamas-linked CAIR claims ownership of "my jihad"Will Hamas-linked CAIR sue the Muslims who are committing acts of murder and mayhem on a regular basis in the name of jihad?
Will Hamas-linked CAIR sue the Muslims who are committing acts of
murder and mayhem on a regular basis in the name of jihad? I thought
not.
Pamela Geller has the latest:
CAIR Chicago tried to stop our counter campaign to their bizarre jihad propaganda. They tried to silence the freedom of speech. Sharia enforcement. A "cease and desist" letter from Hamas-CAIR's Ahmed Rehab (Mr. Jihad) claimed ownership of "my jihad." Ahmed Rehab's comical legal contention: Download Cease and Desist 011513(1)
Litigation jihad -- that's Ahmed's jihad, what's yours?
They love using American law to crush American freedoms. In this case of parody (as in most things), Hamas-CAIR Chicago is overreaching and out of control, but there is always some hungry lawyer eager to line his pockets with myjihad dollars (and AFDI's).
Hamas-CAIR has been encouraging people to use the hashtag #myjihad -- did they really think they could say who, what, where and when? Typical Islamic supremacism.
Here is our legal team's response and counter legal action. Substantiation here: Download Retrieve
Dear Mr. Persoon:
I am in receipt of your letter (attached) to my client claiming trademark rights in the alleged mark "MYJIHAD" and variations thereof. I write to you today in reference to your client's two trademark application files, nos. 85807023 and 85807003.
Specifically, I wish to point out to you that these applications contain materially false representations. First, as you know, neither mark was used in commerce as of September 26, 2012, as represented in the applications. The use of #myjihad in September 2012 relates to the use of the phrase in a public twitter campaign to popularize and to promote the use of #myjihad by the public. See, e.g., http://www.dailyherald.com/article/20120927/news/709279634/. Such use is the opposite of a proprietary claim in a trademark.
And, as the Daily Herald story linked above indicates, there is a more fundamental misrepresentation in the trademark applications. The phrase MYJIHAD is merely the combination into a compound word of two generic terms "my" and "jihad." As such, the term MYJIHAD is not properly subject to trademark protection. See, e.g., In re Gould Paper Corp., 834 F.2d 1017, 5 USPQ2d 1110, 1111-1112 (Fed. Cir. 1987) (holding that SCREENWIPE was generic as applied to premoistened antistatic cloths for cleaning computer and television screens). Indeed, the use of the phrase "my jihad" to describe a jihad personal to the speaker (whether the referenced "jihad" is of the violent variety or of the non-violent struggle variety) is a common expression and has been used historically long before your client's use. See, e.g., the Lexis-Nexis search of the term attached (beginning from item no. 76 et seq.).
Moreover, even if the term is not determined to be generic, it is at best a descriptive mark that cannot be trademarked without secondary meaning.
Finally, you are no doubt aware that my client acquired the website URL myjihad.us before your client even incorporated.
As such, please be aware that if your client does not withdraw these applications, we will file the appropriate letters of protest and follow up with the necessary administrative and legal steps to resist this blatantly inappropriate claim to trademark rights in the proposed marks.
http://www.jihadwatch.org/2013/02/hamas-linked-cair-claims-ownership-of-my-jihad.html
Pamela Geller has the latest:
CAIR Chicago tried to stop our counter campaign to their bizarre jihad propaganda. They tried to silence the freedom of speech. Sharia enforcement. A "cease and desist" letter from Hamas-CAIR's Ahmed Rehab (Mr. Jihad) claimed ownership of "my jihad." Ahmed Rehab's comical legal contention: Download Cease and Desist 011513(1)
Litigation jihad -- that's Ahmed's jihad, what's yours?
They love using American law to crush American freedoms. In this case of parody (as in most things), Hamas-CAIR Chicago is overreaching and out of control, but there is always some hungry lawyer eager to line his pockets with myjihad dollars (and AFDI's).
Hamas-CAIR has been encouraging people to use the hashtag #myjihad -- did they really think they could say who, what, where and when? Typical Islamic supremacism.
Here is our legal team's response and counter legal action. Substantiation here: Download Retrieve
Dear Mr. Persoon:
I am in receipt of your letter (attached) to my client claiming trademark rights in the alleged mark "MYJIHAD" and variations thereof. I write to you today in reference to your client's two trademark application files, nos. 85807023 and 85807003.
Specifically, I wish to point out to you that these applications contain materially false representations. First, as you know, neither mark was used in commerce as of September 26, 2012, as represented in the applications. The use of #myjihad in September 2012 relates to the use of the phrase in a public twitter campaign to popularize and to promote the use of #myjihad by the public. See, e.g., http://www.dailyherald.com/article/20120927/news/709279634/. Such use is the opposite of a proprietary claim in a trademark.
And, as the Daily Herald story linked above indicates, there is a more fundamental misrepresentation in the trademark applications. The phrase MYJIHAD is merely the combination into a compound word of two generic terms "my" and "jihad." As such, the term MYJIHAD is not properly subject to trademark protection. See, e.g., In re Gould Paper Corp., 834 F.2d 1017, 5 USPQ2d 1110, 1111-1112 (Fed. Cir. 1987) (holding that SCREENWIPE was generic as applied to premoistened antistatic cloths for cleaning computer and television screens). Indeed, the use of the phrase "my jihad" to describe a jihad personal to the speaker (whether the referenced "jihad" is of the violent variety or of the non-violent struggle variety) is a common expression and has been used historically long before your client's use. See, e.g., the Lexis-Nexis search of the term attached (beginning from item no. 76 et seq.).
Moreover, even if the term is not determined to be generic, it is at best a descriptive mark that cannot be trademarked without secondary meaning.
Finally, you are no doubt aware that my client acquired the website URL myjihad.us before your client even incorporated.
As such, please be aware that if your client does not withdraw these applications, we will file the appropriate letters of protest and follow up with the necessary administrative and legal steps to resist this blatantly inappropriate claim to trademark rights in the proposed marks.
http://www.jihadwatch.org/2013/02/hamas-linked-cair-claims-ownership-of-my-jihad.html
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