Infringing Panties So Important To DHS, That It Intimidated Print Shop Owner Into Warrantless Search
from the there-is-no-beginning-to-these-agents'-usefulness dept
A few more details have emerged concerning the Dept. of Homeland Security's daring daylight raid of a Kansas City lingerie shop. Our long, dark national nightmare ended just before Game 1 of the World Series when Peregrine Honig's custom-made Royals-related underwear was seized by gun-toting DHS agents. The crime? Presumably trademark infringement (the government's panty raiders specifically pointed out the joining of the letters K and C as problematic), although everyone involved (including the DHS super troopers) keeps referring to it as a "copyright" issue.But lingerie shop proprietor Peregrine Honig wasn't the only one involved in this criminal attempt to join the letters K and C across the buttocks of perky Kansas Citians. Techdirt reader GMacGuffin points us to this interview with Eric Lindquist, owner (and sole employee) of Lindquist Printing, where Honig's allegedly infringing design was applied to a durable (but breathable) cotton blend.
Apparently, the DHS agents first tried a little subterfuge in hopes of catching Lindquist in the act of infringement.
“Agents met me on my way to a café next door to Birdies.” (Undercover officers wanted to know if Lindquist printed the panties.) “I said, ‘Yeah, we’ve done a bunch of projects in the past...’ He cut me off and says, ‘Well, I’ve got a project like that. Do you want to meet?’ I said, ‘I’m really busy. I don’t think I can get anything done if it’s Royals related. I’m planning on leaving town tomorrow.’”At this point, the DHS likely felt they had a fleeing felon on its hands. Lindquist, however, didn't put this all together until he saw the lingerie store's Facebook page, which contained a post showing the infringing panties in a DHS evidence bag.
The DHS agents again tried to get Lindquist to agree to whip up some printed infringeables for them, but the print shop proprietor headed this off by demanding something rarely found in the possession of law enforcement officers: a warrant.
I said, ‘I don’t know what to do at this point. I think I’m supposed to ask for a warrant.’ He took that very poorly, explained I was in serious trouble and faced potential fines up to $250,000 and/or six years in jail. He said I had broken copyright law. "("Copyright law." Or whatever. I guess the finer nuances of IP enforcement are left to those in the upper reaches of the DHS organizational chart.) The warrant request angered the g-men, as did Lindquist's decision to stop talking to them. Lindquist retreated back into his studio. When he emerged a half-hour later, DHS agents approached him in a more straightforward fashion, with hands resting gently but threateningly on their holstered firearms.
“Two agents were in the dumpster, another six in my space, and another two were securing the building out front. They told me it could go one of two ways: I could insist or resist a search by demanding that a warrant be delivered there. If that was the case they would need to confiscate anything related to printing, which is, basically, my business.That's what you get for exercising your rights, as they say. Rather than lose his business indefinitely (via the "forfeiture" of his presumed-guilty equipment), Lindquist waived his rights and allowed the ten DHS agents to rifle through his stuff in search of infringing goods. Their efforts were ultimately useless and Lindquist was allowed to return to his violated studio.
“I didn’t feel I had much choice. So I did sign a piece of paper saying they had permission to search the premises…"
Bonus points for Lindquist: Because of a recent freelance (with the emphasis on "free") stint in Ferguson, MO, DHS agents searched his studio while surrounded by photos of cops hauling away protesters. Rumors that Lindquist greeted DHS agents clad in one of his Ferguson-inspired creations -- an UNARMED CIVILIAN shirt -- are unconfirmed, but we're certainly free to imagine they're true.
Security Through IP Enforcement. That's MY DHS!
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Filed Under: dhs, eric lindquist, homeland security, kansas city, panties, peregrine honig, print shop, seizure
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Who the heck was the C.O. in all of this?
Seriously, panties?
If they wanted to go on a panty raid, they should have just asked the local high school boys to help out.
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Re: Who the heck was the C.O. in all of this?
only thing was, a butler for these high-roller suites told them to fuck off... so, instead of just 'flickering' their internet service, the feebs shut it down completely, then waited for the howling to start before they sent in their fake techies...
oh, then -quelle surprise, mon dieu, sacre bleu!- they lied to the judge in order to get all this otherwise inadmissible stuff admitted...
you and me ? not allowed to lie to anyone anywhere without risking a multi-year jail sentence ?
piggies ? lying is their stock in trade...
lying pukes, hate 'em all...
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Re: Who the heck was the C.O. in all of this?
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Re: Re: Who the heck was the C.O. in all of this?
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Re: Re: Who the heck was the C.O. in all of this?
Well, one of them is.
For those who aren't well-versed in the arcane knowledge of Japanese animation:
Happousai - a perverted old martial arts master, from Ranma 1/2
Muten Roushi - ditto, from Dragon Ball
Jiraiya - the same, from Naruto
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Re: Re: Re: Who the heck was the C.O. in all of this?
I did find myself having to sit through a lot of that when hanging out with my nephews when they were young. I think the best of them I saw was "Samurai Jack" (I think; long time ago), and I think that wasn't true Japanese Manga (as in "Hollywood knockoff").
The best I can say about that stuff now is puerile, not to mention seriously boring. I'm amazed that grown adults find it entertaining. I very much preferred their "addicted to dinosaurs" stage.
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Now, over the past several years, everyone has decided that they have "BUYER'S REMORSE" and no longer support it.
Well, because of the morons in this country who supported the law, now law enforcement is out of control and you have only yourselves to blame for this crap.
If you have nothing to hide and you're not doing anything wrong, consent to the search. If you refuse, then you're obviously doing something wrong because now you've created suspicion in the eyes of law enforcement.
Suck it up and stop whining about it.
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What does trademark infringement have to do with national security?
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Since the patriot act requires regular renewal, if the opinion of the citizenry had any real effect at all it would have been gone a while ago. So, at least at this point, it's hard to directly blame "morons" for this.
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Whassis?!?
Sadly, a wilfully ignorant and deliberately antipathetic society does indeed get the government they deserve.
Govern: To control.
Ment(al): of the mind.
Think about it a second or two...y'all ain't gotsa ta be sum kinda brainocologist er nuthin'...
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Re: Whassis?!?
The system is rigged. The really great part is this "Democractic Republic" idea leaves the ability to change that in the hands of those who would benefit the least from such changes: Congress. There is no federal referendum system. Further, this assumes that its all above board and when some 15 billion dollars were spent on federal elections two years ago, one must conclude there are a lot of people owed and those people are also no the electorate.
Barring armed revolution there is no effective way to change that I can see and I am not taking up arms against a government who so brainwashes its people to believing that they need to pay higher taxes so that rich people can pay lower ones.
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another idiotic statement - what a fool you are
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This is an example of "mission creep" (of your thoughts).
Even though the person affected by this, individually, might not have been supportive of passage of The Patriot Act, you blanket-think that they should "suck it up" like those that did.
Hence you are obviously supportive of it yourself; and are willing to use disparagement as a tool to get more to comply.
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FYI I'm 19 now.
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I have every right and obligation, as a citizen, that you call moron, to object, complain and protest such actions. That's not whining.
The word "Patriot" has been used often since that day more than 13 years ago that allowed us to be imposed with illegal legislation that, essentially, says that if you do not follow, blindly, the course of those who propped themselves up as "leaders" you're the enemy. That's foolishness not patriotism and that sentiment was put in place by a regime who, using his big brother's staff and his own previous cronyism, elected himself.
We could, as you say, stop whining. That would, however, allow the very thing you says is being "let" happen.
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Bad guys
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Re: Bad guys (whatcha gonna do when they come fore you)
The biggest lies ever told.
The police have no interest in protecting the public, but they have an obligation where a special relationship exists. (Warren v. District of Columbia [444 A.2d. 1, D.C. Ct. of Ap. 1981]). This special relationship is likely that of corporations.
Look at the laws that are passed, court cases. While Warren V. DC doesn't cover this topic, others do, such as Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission, 558 U.S. (2010), (Docket No. 08-205), which gives corporations the same clout and as a person, but a person with incredible unfettered lobbying ability.
Major League Baseball is a for-profit business that enjoys special congressional protection. As such its logos must be protected by the federal police.
The biggest lie of them all: The United States of America is has a Democratic Republic Government. It is, in fact, an oligarchy.
As such, the police, often left to their own devices, take the power vested in them by the federal and state governments and get intoxicated on it and this breeds paranoia of "regular" people. The police see us as the enemy. Instead of being held to a higher standard they are held to a lower one.
Since the police don't mess with the fat cats until one turns on another, they tend to be left alone to deal with us citizens (subjects) when we get out of line, the biggest line we can cross, however, is taking even one red cent from the coffers of big business. There is no reason for those who shape and form policy to change the way cops are policed and dealt with when they press hard on the peons for simply exercising their rights.
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Another recent one claiming to protect a polite intimidated passenger without a seat belt: smashing his window, shooting him with a tasar, and dragging the now-injured victim out of the car.
Routine lies by the police would have been effective in these cases of pointless violence if they had not been recorded. How many other cases of senseless terrorism are routinely created, but with no recording available to the victims?
We desperately need more checks both on pointless despotic laws, and the pointless violence police often enjoy using with the thinest of excuses to enforce them.
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Don't be an idiot. In America, anyone can sue anyone else for anything at all, anytime. God bless America.
Would his case survive a 12(b)(6) motion?
Unlikely.
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Threat?
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I don't blame law enforcement, I blame the morons in this country who supported these laws. Just what did everyone think would happen?
When you give your government new powers, they are very, very reluctant to give those powers up and it makes it impossible to repeal those laws.
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No need to single the Dems out for this. Support for the renewal of the law is strongly bipartisan.
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Crime and corruption are the rule now rather than the exception it seems. Most of the crimes being committed by those the public blindly trusts to uphold their rights and laws of the land.
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Only way to stay ahead of all those uncreative and less talented Chinese army types who keep breaking into American entities to steal those infos...
They have prevented the chinese copycats flooding our market with K and C put together...
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lessons to be learned here.
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They are nothing more than criminals, period.
They are NOT law enforcement agents at this point.
Arrest and incarceration are the only real options for these thugs.
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People are being murdered on the streets of St. Louis...
Glad to see where their priorities are.
U.S. Government more concerned about perceived trademark violation than human life - should be front page news / headlines for the remainder of the year.
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He was lucky...
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This is where my tax dollars are going, glad it is working for them
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I hate DHS and their actions, but these jerks aren't innocent, either...
"We'd sold about 30 pairs," Honig says. "It's not like we'd gone crazy. We hoped to make a little money for our small business. As small-business owners, we didn't think we'd be targeted. It's kind of silly, a bunch of wealthy older people deciding that we can't sell people something that Major League Baseball itself doesn't make."
http://www.pitch.com/FastPitch/archives/2014/10/21/homeland-security-made-a-royals-panty-raid-at-bir dies
So she's saying, "Hey, we only stole a little bit, why are they picking on us."
Yeah, DHS is a bunch of jack-booted thugs, but it's hard to be sympathetic to an 'artist' who was knowingly ripping off someone else's intellectual property.
...brig
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Re: I hate DHS and their actions, but these jerks aren't innocent, either...
Actually, what she is saying is:
"Hey, we may have possibly infringed on someone's trademark in a way that did no financial harm and has a possibility of having helped their business. Because of this, we did not think we would be on the receiving end of law enforcement action."
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Re: I hate DHS and their actions, but these jerks aren't innocent, either...
It really wasn't that long ago that it was both common and considered perfectly legal to make your own fan ware. It was only a couple decades ago that sports leagues suddenly went crazy over trademark protection, and it's still questionable whether or not there's a legitimate argument there, or if these things should be protected as fair use.
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Trademark Fair Use [was Re: Re: I hate DHS...]
You want to run the trademark fair use argument past me, please? I'm not seeing it.
Specifically, are you claiming classic (trademark) fair use? Nominative (trademark) fair use? Or some other type of (trademark) fair use? Perhaps a new type of (trademark) fair use?
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Re: Trademark Fair Use [was Re: Re: I hate DHS...]
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Re: I hate DHS and their actions, but these jerks aren't innocent, either...
Regardless, this is clearly a homegrown smalltime operation, raising the question why this would be considered a criminal infringement, investigated on our dime. A Cease & Desist from the Royals would have done it.
For criminal infringement/counterfeiting, one needs a bit more than for civil infringement, e.g.:
The mark is "identical with, or substantially indistinguishable from" the genuine trademark. 18 U.S.C. § 2320 (d)(1)(a)(ii). This element assures that not every case of trademark infringement amounts to trademark counterfeiting. The "indistinguishable from" standard is to be interpreted on a case-by-case basis.
from: http://www.justice.gov/usao/eousa/foia_reading_room/usam/title9/crm01715.htm
Also from the link: the mark has to be registered in the USPTO Principal Register. I did a quick search, and the "KC Royals" as well as "KC" marks are registered, of which the panties are not substantially similar in my view.
What I am looking at looks like a cheap copy. It is not necessarily "identical with or substantially indistinguishable" nor would it necessarily create likelihood of confusion. It is a poor case-study for criminal liability. Yet, here comes the DHS...
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Re: Re: I hate DHS and their actions, but these jerks aren't innocent, either...
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Re: I hate DHS and their actions, but these jerks aren't innocent, either...
My sympathy for the retailer is not about getting caught in a minor "ripoff". It's the jack-booted thugs part. It would have been reasonable to expect that legal action would come in the form of the usual things: a cease-and-desist and maybe a lawsuit, rather than armed agents.
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Re: Re: I hate DHS and their actions, but these jerks aren't innocent, either...
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Knickers
this is why the rest of the world points and laughs at you behind your back.
Yours sincerely,
Everyone.
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Re: Knickers
Behind their back?!? I'm doubled over giggling uncontrollably pointing in their face. "And you put up with !@#$ like this?!?!? Ho. Ly. !@#$" Now, I'm on the floor, rolling around, bumping into the furniture!
Seriously, a *squad* of Gestapo threatening to cart away everything in a guy's store if he insists on a warrant?
Over a K and a C connected stylistically?
Yet I hear no angry mobs converging on DHS HQ intent on just burning the damned house down already, followed by Congress as soon as that's done!
I very much doubt the raw combined profit the involved infringers got from this caper added up to enough to buy a case of Empire Strikes Bock.
The USA has lost its mind.
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I didn’t feel I had much choice. So I did sign a piece of paper saying they had permission to search the premises…"
"Comply or we'll destroy your business."
And yet people still claim with a straight face, that we're not living in a police state...
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United States v Whisenton (8th Cir, September 2014)
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You indicate a little bit of sarcasm there.
The events that the 8th Circuit just related in Whisenton took place in St. Louis, and so the district court opinion came out of the Eastern District of Missouri. Digging into that opinion below, you see that the United States District Judge was guided by the report and recommendation of a United States District Magistrate.
To be sure, one out of the three judges on the 8th Circuit panel did dissent—outvoted by the other two. But, all told that leaves four out of five honorable judges who found free-willed consent under those circumstances.
Recently, I read a scholarly article by Julia Ann Simon-Kerr (University of Connecticut School of Law) that may help to explain this: “Systemic Lying”.
Of course, Kansas City is not in the Eastern District of Missouri with St. Louis, but rather out in the Western District, and thus it might be just a little bit different there.
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Them terrorist panties can turn extremely violent
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