No, Making Fun Of Donald Trump's Stupid Red Hat Isn't Trademark Infringement

from the 99-dumb-red-hats dept

If, like me, you find American presidential politics far more humorously entertaining than anything Adam Sandler has produced in the past decade (at least), you probably already know all about Donald Trump's stupid red hat. This isn't to say anything about Trump's politics, which are also stupid, but the hat he's trotting around with is objectively stupid and if you don't agree, well, you're wrong.
The Trump Mullet: business from the neck down, nationalism up top. As it turns out, other people think Trump's stupid hat is stupid, as well. The Washington Post, for instance, decided to create a page dedicated to making all kinds of hats that want to make all kinds of things great again. And then there is NYC's Mayor Bill de Blasio, who decided to make fun of Trump's stupid hat by wearing his own stupid hat. As you'll hear in that Fox News clip, news commentators are now discussing whether de Blasio's "Make America Fair Again" hat is a trademark violation, because Donald Trump has registered his "Make America Great Again" slogan. It's not just Fox News asking this question. The Daily Caller too has a post about just how close to or over the trademark violation line de Blasio crept with his hat.

New York Mayor Bill de Blasio took a jab at Republican front-runner Donald Trump by wearing a red hat bearing the slogan “Make America Fair Again” during an interview Thursday on CNN, but he might have also violated trademark law in the process.

No, actually, he absolutely did not violate trademark law by making fun of Trump's hat with his own hat. There are any number of reasons why this is the case. Essentially, all de Blasio would have to do is shout "Parody!" at anyone discussing this and the conversation is over, as parody is protected under Fair Use. But even beyond that, Trump would have to demonstrate before a court that not only is de Blasio's hat not protected as parody, but that de Blasio is using his hat in commerce in competition with Trump's hat, that the two slogans aren't distinct enough to be easily separated in the mind of a moron in a hurry, and that anyone might be confused into thinking that Trump was behind the "fair" hat. None of those are the case. And, again, parody.

So, no, making fun of Trump's stupid hat isn't even remotely close to a trademark violation. Way to go, news media...

Filed Under: bill de blasio, donal trump, free speech, hat, make america great again, parody, trademark, use in commerce