France Celebrates Its New Reverence For Free Speech By Arresting Comedian For His Speech

from the that's-one-way-to-do-it dept

Over the weekend in Paris there was a so-called "Unity March" in response to last week's Charlie Hebdo attack. The photographs from the march were striking -- even if the famed photo of many world leaders holding hands and marching together turned out to a photo op on a closed street, rather than with the rest of the marchers. And, of course, this was all a facade. Many of the leaders who were there oversee governments that don't believe in free speech or a free press at all. Here, for example, is Jillian York trying to figure out if any of the leaders truly support freedom of expression.

And, to just put a big underline on the whole thing, just days later, France has arrested a famous and controverisal French comedian, Dieudonné, who has quite a reputation for his outspoken anti-semitism. The arrest was over a Facebook post that Dieudonné put up that basically mocked the "Je Suis Charlie" campaign that had become the rallying cry following the Charlie Hebdo attack, and instead indicated that he identified more with Amédy Coulibaly, a gunman who killed four people at a Jewish supermarket on Friday.

Dieudonné's views may be offensive, ridiculous or despicable, but it's much more offensive, ridiculous and despicable to have him arrested for a comment on Facebook. And, it's even more ridiculous to do it when his comment concerns the way people were expressing support for freedom of the press and freedom of expression.

To then immediately arrest someone for using that freedom to give a counter-view, just seems ridiculous.

And while it's the most high profile, Dieudonné is hardly the only target, apparently. According to the BBC, France has really ramped up attacks on free speech in response to all this damn support of free speech:

The justice ministry said earlier that 54 cases had been opened since the murders of 17 people in Paris last week. Of those, 37 cases involved condoning terrorism and 12 were for threatening to carry out terrorist acts.

Some fast-track custodial sentences have already been handed down under anti-terror legislation passed last November

• A man of 22 was jailed on Tuesday for a year for posting a video mocking one of the three murdered policemen
• A drunk driver was given four years in prison after making threats against the police who arrested him
• Three men in their twenties were jailed in Toulouse for condoning terrorism
• A man of 20 was jailed in Orleans for shouting "long live the Kalash[(nikov]" at police in a shopping center

Hey, France, I don't quite think you're getting the message. "I support free speech... so long as it is free speech that I sort of agree with" kind of misses the point. The views of some of these people expressing support for killers or terrorists or hatred towards certain types of people is speech that I find, personally, to be despicable. But those expressing it should be allowed to express it -- broadcasting their own confusion and ignorance to the world, and allowing others to counter that speech. Arresting people based on their speech only reinforces the ridiculous idea that they've come upon some truth or that they're speaking "truth to power." They're not. They're speaking nonsense, but in a free society we allow nonsense to be spoken.

Filed Under: arrest, arrested, charlie hebdo, dieudonne, france, free speech, je suis charlie

And Of Course, The Attempts To Trademark 'Je Suis Charlie' Have Begun

from the just-stop-it dept

Last week, you may have heard, the main "rallying cry" in response to the attack at satirical French magazine Charlie Hebdo was "Je Suis Charlie." That was all over the media (social and mainstream). On Friday, Roberto Ledesma warned the world not to try to trademark the phrase, noting that it would end badly and you'd be mocked and ridiculed for doing so.

I write this post on the off chance that anyone considering filing a trademark application for JE SUIS CHARLIE — or any future trending rallying cries — finds it, reads it and reconsiders. Here’s why:

• The USPTO will refuse your application.
• You will not get your money back.
• You may be publicly ridiculed.

So don’t even try. It’s as simple as that.

It's a great article that goes into a lot more detail, including lots of other examples (including a few we've covered) about idiots trying to trademark "Occupy Wall Street," "Boston Strong," "Hands Up Don't Shoot," "I Can't Breathe" and various other "rallying cries." They all failed, and they just made the applicant look bad.

Applicants must also realize that there is no right to confidentiality in the information disclosed in a USPTO trademark application, including your name and address. The press may come calling. You may get trolled on social media. You will upset masses of people who feel the phrase is part of something much larger than any single person or entity’s business ambitions. They will be repulsed by your actions. I wonder how the woman who filed the I CAN’T BREATHE trademark application feels about all the negative attention she has received.

That was Saturday. On Tuesday, we get from IP Kat: BREAKING NEWS: someone wants to register 'Je suis Charlie' as a trademark. This is in Benelux, so Ledesma's legal analysis of why this will fail in the US doesn't directly apply, but his analysis of why this is stupid and you will look bad for applying does. It still seems likely that we'll soon see similar applications show up in the US. That's what you get when we convince the world that every idea, thought, concept and phrase must be "owned."

Filed Under: je suis charlie, trademark