CafePress Takes Down T-Shirt Calling Donald Trump A Cheeto-Faced Shitgibbon, Saying It Violates Frito-Lay's Trademark
from the trademark-at-work dept
As you probably heard in the news, last week, Presidential candidate/reality TV star Donald Trump took a bit of a detour from the campaign trail last week to fly to Scotland to open his new golf course. That the timing of the trip coincided with the Brexit referendum for the UK to exit the EU was just the wacky icing on the bizarre global political cake we're all now eating (bad metaphor apology). As you also probably heard, Trump talked about how wonderful the Brexit stuff was, and how much the people in Scotland must be thrilled, apparently missing the fact that Scotland, somewhat overwhelmingly, voted to stay in the EU. And because this is Scotland, and Scotland is awesome, folks there took to Twitter for a series of increasingly funny insults:@cocteau8 @realDonaldTrump pic.twitter.com/taaM2Pzo9b
— Kevin Osborne (@skinoverbone) June 24, 2016
@realDonaldTrump we never got our country back, we wanted to remain, bolt ya hamster heedit bampot, away and boil yer napper
— Rosco (@TheCyberwolf85) June 24, 2016
Scotland voted to stay & plan on a second referendum, you tiny fingered, Cheeto-faced, ferret wearing shitgibbon. https://t.co/iKyEIxf8ej
— Hamfisted Bun Vendor (@MetalOllie) June 24, 2016
The use of "Cheeto" infringes on Frito Lays trademark. If would be different if you used "cheese puff" or "cheese-snack"-faced in your design.Yes. Really. Nothing like having CafePress ruining your jokes for you with its bizarre interpretation of trademark law.
You may forward your notice of authorization from Frito Lay, giving you permission to use "Cheeto" or "Cheetos" in connection with the sale of commercial merchandise to us via email....
As we've discussed many times in the past, CafePress is frequently targeted by bogus takedowns concerning political speech and the company doesn't exactly have the best record in dealing with such takedowns. But this seems just blatantly ridiculous on so many levels.
Either way, to argue that this is trademark infringing is crazy. No one is confusing the t-shirt or the image above as coming from Frito-Lay. I don't care how much of a moron in a hurry you might be, there's no consumer confusion here. For CafePress to declare absolutely that the use of Cheeto as an adjective here (not even as a noun!) is infringing on Frito-Lay's trademark is just... wrong. Second, this is pretty clearly protected political speech -- whether or not you agree with it or even think it's funny. Yes, CafePress has a right as a private company to refuse to host any shirts it dislikes, but at the very least it should come out and say that's why it's shutting down the shirt, rather than hiding behind a bogus "trademark" claim from Frito-Lay.
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Filed Under: cheetos, donald trump, political speech, shitgibbon, t-shirts, trademark
Companies: cafepress, frito lay
Reader Comments
The First Word
“Do not take a cat to a food fight
I have been seeing what I think is reckless cat breeding for "wild look".
he Cheetoh's parent breeds are the Ocicat and the Bengal, which is actually a direct descendant of the wild Asian Leopard Cat... from one breeding site.
The Bengal Cat is the result of a long research program to save ALC DNA. This abuse of 10 years of research is just stupid.
My 1st Bengal was half wild, handful. Current Bengals are tame. A proper Bengal costs $2000. This knockoff is a third of that price.
Follow the money.
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Fair Use - besides, if Strumpet eats Cheetohs - free advertising
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Trademark infringement = nil.
Trademark takedown = happening anyway.
Obvious conclusion: CafePress supports Donald Trump.
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Re:
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In order to level the playing field and mitigate confirmation bias I showed only the poster to a colleague, a more junior but very talented Moron in a Hurry, and asked him what he thought. He agreed that it never occurred to him that the food company had anything to do with it.
Anyway, sorry to snark and run, but I'm in a hurry.
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It's not. I looked behind my monitor.
And now I'm hungry...
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What a decision to have to make
Since the tshirt designer and CafePress are not selling snack food, there IS NO HARM to any food related mark.
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Sad and pathetic
"Anyone But The Cheeto-Faced, Ferret-Wearing Shitgibbon, 2016"
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A different brand?
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"we never got our country back, we wanted to remain, bolt ya hamster heedit bampot, away and boil yer napper"
and
"Scotland voted to stay & plan on a second referendum, you tiny fingered, Cheeto-faced, ferret wearing shitgibbon. "
Meh.
And I am sorry but exactly what attributes of a cheeto is supposed to resemble Trump's face? Kind of like calling him a poopy head.
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Re: IT Guy
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The artificial orange colour.
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Re: Drumpf's face
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Donald Trump is as bad as...
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Re: Donald Trump is as bad as...
Now if I were to hypothetically compare Trump to the same thing, I don't think there would be any copyright, trademark or other complaints that anyone could make. Maybe defamation. But only if I were to actually make such a comparison which I am not.
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Re: Re: Donald Trump is as bad as...
Secondly, I'm pretty sure that neither "horse excrement" nor "goat vomit" can be defamed either by some implied association with, or by direct comparison to, that Donald Trump character. (Otherwise, we'd probably already have heard from them.)
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Re: Donald Trump is as bad as...
That's just 1000 steps below the "two-toned zebra-headed, slime-coated, pimple-farmin' paramecium brain, munchin' on his own mucus, suffering from Peter Pan envy!" individual named Rufio.
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We certainly don't want to create any market confusion
I don't think the Trump face and Cheeto face comparison would cause market confusion for Cheetos customers or potential customers.
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Actually, I kindof side with Cafepress here...
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Re: Actually, I kindof side with Cafepress here...
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Unless of course the MPAA owns the trademark on shitgibbon?
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Double Standard?
Rules for thee and not for me, perhaps?
I don't much care for either candidate, but the hypocrisy on the left is just too much sometimes.
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Re: Double Standard?
Yes. Yes, we would care. https://www.techdirt.com/articles/20140609/17534527530/hillary-clinton-pac-sends-bogus-takedowns-ove r-parodies-zazzle-cafepress.shtml
So, please, before making bullshit assumptions, maybe try to use the search engine.
Rules for thee and not for me, perhaps?
Assume too much, perhaps?
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Re: Double Standard?
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Re: Double Standard?
Perhaps if you looked at what "the left" actually believed instead of attacking the fantasies you just made up about what you assume they might believe, you'd be able to take it a little more?
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Re: Re: Double Standard?
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Re: Re: Double Standard?
http://www.ellensplace.net/fascism.html
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Re: Double Standard?
Maybe you might consider the fact that I was responding to the comments and NOT your article. You were pretty clear (reading comprehension FTW) that your opinion on bogus takedowns was that they were, well, bogus. One either side, even. Why would I look up something that was pretty obvious?
Now, you obviously found mocking trump more personally amusing than someone mocking Hillary, but that's pretty reasonable - oligarchy vs. shitweasel has a clear humor gap. Your butt hurt response to a message not directed at you is a bit troubling tho, but hey, still understandable - it was posted to your article.
I'm going to stand by my assertion that folks on the left are MUCH less tolerant than almost everyone else of people who don't agree with them, and the hipocracy of their stance is annoying. That's MY opinion, based on what I've personally seen and read and experienced. Notice: all the best riots occur when the left tries to silence blowhards like Trump. When's the last time a bunch of people started a riot at a Hillary event?
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Re: Re: Double Standard?
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Re: Re: Re: Double Standard?
I was trying to figure out if Trump is a shitweasel or a shit Gibbon but now I need to put a size to the question like a piece of shit Gibbon or a massive shit weasel since his actions are now affecting the world maybe the right answer would be a global shitgibbon
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Re: Re: Double Standard?
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Re: Double Standard?
That she's not frothing at the mouth building walls to keep the Mexicans out merely means she's not as far to the right as you are.
Bernie Sanders is a leftie.
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Frito-Lays wasn't who they were worried about
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Re: Frito-Lays wasn't who they were worried about
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Re: Re: Frito-Lays wasn't who they were worried about
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Where did it say "Frito-Lays Cheetos" in the design?
Since all 3 words weren't used, and only a partial read of the 3rd was used, they got it all wrong.
Everyone - immediately stop buying any Frito-Lay product until they approve that t-shirt design.
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Do Not Underestimate The Power of Stupidity
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/stupidity/the-power-of-stupidity
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In fairness
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No.
Cheeto is a registered trademark, so I have no idea what you're talking about.
Why you're surprised that Frito-Lay would not want to be associated with this (or Donald Trump in general), is strange.
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Re:
No.
Cheeto is a registered trademark, so I have no idea what you're talking about.
Why you're surprised that Frito-Lay would not want to be associated with this (or Donald Trump in general), is strange.
That's not how trademark law works. But thanks for playing (and revealing your ignorance of the law). Trademark does not allow you to block any use of the word just because you dislike it. It only applies in cases where there is likely to be consumer confusion as to the origin of the products (i.e., if people think that Frito Lay actually made those shirts). That's not the case here, and thus the trademark claim does not apply.
Separately, as the article notes (did you even read it?), it looks like Cafe Press made this decision, rather than Frito Lay.
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And by a ton, Masnick means 5. But hey, that sounds honest, right?
Cheetoh is a bengal tiger, Masnick.
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The image is just part of the page. By my count, there are 44 products in the Cafe Press store with a variation on the word "Cheeto"
But, you know, I'm sure it's more fun to slam me based on your own failure to read than to actually read.
That sounds honest, right?
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OK, here's your chance to prove you're not intellectually dishonest: Post a list of the 44 items.
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I posted a link IN THE STORY that you appear to have totally missed. http://www.cafepress.com/+cheetos+gifts
That says there are 62 products, but not all of them actually say Cheeto/Cheetos/Cheetoh or whatever. So I simply went through and counted the ones that did, and it's 44. I can't believe you're challenging this rather than just admitting you were wrong. Got the link and count.
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Now post your list of the 44 or admit you're an intellectually dishonest bullshitter.
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Ah. I get it. You're being a pedantic asshole. Because you're not counting those that say cheetoh instead of cheeto.
Just because I don't have a stick up my ass about exactly how one spells cheetoh doesn't make me dishonest. The examples used clearly refer to the cheese puff, not the tiger. Either way, it's clear that CafePress allows it in other contexts. So the only one being dishonest here is you in pretending there's some massive distinction. That's not how it works.
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But you don't care, because all you wanted was to say that there were "a ton" of references to Frito-Lay's Cheeto puff on Cafe Press when, in reality, there aren't.
Playing loose with the facts is something you do all the time and everyone knows it.
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Holy shit, are you serious??
Just in case you missed it, there is no animal named a "cheetoh". This might be the time to take the old saying to heart:
"Better to remain silent and be thought a fool than than to speak and prove it."
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A Cheetoh is indeed a kind of cat. In my defense, though, it has only existed since 2014.
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I know you are but what am I? Wipe the tiger spooge off you knee pants AC.
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A Cheetoh *is* a bengal tiger.
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If you don't have anything nice to say...
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Should have known better
And I can see why.
Their Flaming Hot Shitgibbons are a guilty pleasure of mine.
The Cool Ranch Baked Shitgibbons, now with extra shittiness aren't bad either.
Oh, that wasn't the word that caused issues?
Whoops. My bad. I may have been confused.
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Cheeto-Faced Ferret-Wearing Shitgibbon
A trade mark is intended to assist consumers in distinguishing particular products and their origins. If I were to sell a snack under the Cheeto name, it would be infringement; the same is true if I were to sell malted battery acid under the Pepsi name. But if I were to say that I want a lunch consisting of Cheeto snacks and Pepsi malted battery acid, I should be correctly using the marks.
Here, the writer is correctly using the trade mark to identify a particular product from a particular vendor. That is the intent of trade marks.
Sure, Pepsi could say that it does not want to be associated with a Cheeto-faced ferret-wearing shitgibbon, but that is a political issue largely unrelated to the question of whether the use of the Cheeto name is correct to identify a particular product from a particular vendor.
Assume also that I insult Cafe Press at this point.
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Cafe Press Seems Right Leaning
I had an anti-Trump sticker that violated no copyrights nor any of their rules, turned down… even after I sent copies of my graphics proving no copyrights were violated. And I see similar items on there that are anti liberal, all the time!
~Frustrated.
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Laughable for all the wrong reasons
Fortunately the vast majority of the population is now seeing you all for what you've ALWAYS been
I particularly like the cowardly masked thugs who attempt to bully (as long as they outnumber 10 to 1) spitting in peoples face, attacking them, then screaming and running to the same police they mock and celebrate when they're murdered by their racist BLM pals
You all need two ot three promotions to get to "arrogant turd" level
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Re: Laughable for all the wrong reasons
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Cheetoh Faced Ferret Wearing Shitgibbon
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Do not take a cat to a food fight
I have been seeing what I think is reckless cat breeding for "wild look".
he Cheetoh's parent breeds are the Ocicat and the Bengal, which is actually a direct descendant of the wild Asian Leopard Cat... from one breeding site.
The Bengal Cat is the result of a long research program to save ALC DNA. This abuse of 10 years of research is just stupid.
My 1st Bengal was half wild, handful. Current Bengals are tame. A proper Bengal costs $2000. This knockoff is a third of that price.
Follow the money.
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