[Lnc-business] protecting party assets

Sun Aug 6 19:14:54 EDT 2017

First - the sure way to make sure there are innumerable contraband memes is
to insinuate legal action akin to Hillary declaring war on an internet frog,

>From a Region 1 member:

To the members of the LNC:

I am writing today to express my opposition to the suggestion that the LNC
begin sending cease and desist orders for use of the Libertarian Party or
logo for groups not officially recognized by the LNC.

The precedent that would be set would have consequences far reaching and
would drive members away from association with the party. This would
include me, as I have worked hard establishing a county affiliate, a member
of a caucus, and as a candidate seeking the Libertarian nomination, all
three of which would qualify me or my association to have legal action set
against us.

1. Candidates are not recognized by the Libertarian Party until after
nomination. The bylaw and logo suggestion put forth by Secretary Alicia
Mattson that is being cited [5.1] would prevent someone like me, running a
highly effective campaign, from using the logo branding, name Libertarian
Party, etc. until nominated about 6 months from the General Election.

This affects the branding image that is placed in voters' minds, and to
effectively run a statewide or federal race, the candidate and their team
would require one year to 18 months before the General to be effective in
their efforts.

2. Non-partisan candidates who are Libertarians would not be able to run
with the LP branding, because they are non nominated by parties. Some state
laws actually don't allow for candidates to seek a party nomination for
some races. However, my using things like the Eagle Torch, it fortifies a
positive image of the Libertarian Party as people start to affiliate that
image with one of action and good ideas.

3. County affiliates are not mentioned in the Bylaws, only states. This
means that affiliates, like the one I chair, would fall subject to this
enforcement action. This measure would centralize power and put the hard
work of our volunteers as a waste.

For the last two years I have Chaired the Libertarian Party of Weber
County. We have done numerous outreach events and expanded dues paying
members to the party at the state and national levels. We have advocated on
behalf of Libertarian candidates, in many cases, paying for booth fees at
events and inviting them to table with us to ensure they get exposure in
the public

We are also recognized as one of the biggest pushing forces in a ballot
initiative to have Medical cannabis on the ballot in 2018, including being
a co-sponsor of a debate in Weber County for voters to hear the pros and
cons. We help select the person to speak on the pro side, are putting some
of our own funds forward to assist in it being aired, and are helping with
the advertising.

Having the catch all of not being recognized by you, puts us at risk with
all our efforts. Grassroots is the name of the game in politics to motivate
a dedicated base. As long as I am Chair, I will never ask permission from
anyone to advocate for liberty.

4. All a caucus is, is a group of members (members of the Libertarian
Party), who advocate issues that are acceptable by the the Statement of
Principles. The example given by Alicia Mattson as one that must be shut
down is the Libertarian Party Nudist Caucus. So I ask you: who was harmed?
If they advocate that people not be incarcerated for being nude, or
"freeing the nipple" for women, where is the crime?

While I am not personally a member of this specific caucus, they are a
specific issue focus group in the Libertarian Party. As they are members,
and there is no violation of the Statement of Principles, there is no cause
to go after them other than the fact that the Secretary finds this specific
group distasteful.

I would rather explain to voters why it is important for the most extreme
to exist than have a group silenced, censured, or sued.

5. How can the Libertarian Party simultaneously advocate against groups
like Big Pharma in the use of the IP while going after their own membership
for IP? Ask yourselves that before you vote. If you support the measure of
Secretary Mattson, you are a hypocrite and will be called out for it.

Remember that each one of you were elected by the body of the Libertarian
Party delegates, myself included. If you are going to take the
authoritarian route, you will be fought and a group inclined to advocating
liberty is going to defeat any one who pushes against us. We seek a world
free in our lifetime, not a world where we cannot advocate for like-minded
ideas using branding that is readily available for download. This helps the
LP, it does not harm it.

In Liberty,
Craig Bowden
2016 National Delegate
Chairman of the Libertarian Party of Weber County
Candidate for US Senate
PROUD member of the Radical Caucus

On Sun, Aug 6, 2017 at 12:02 PM Daniel Hayes <danielehayes at icloud.com>
wrote:

> I sent that on accident during a pitstop when I stuck the phone in my
> pocket. It might have been a little Freudian.  It sums up what I think we
> need be saying relative to this subject.
>
> Daniel Hayes
> LNC At Large Member
>
> Sent from my iPhone
>
> On Aug 6, 2017, at 12:48 PM, Daniel Hayes <danielehayes at icloud.com> wrote:
>
>
>
> Sent from my iPhone
>
> On Aug 6, 2017, at 11:50 AM, Caryn Ann Harlos <carynannharlos at gmail.com>
> wrote:
>
> In light of this announcement, and I want to get this on the record before
> I speak, I notified the Libertarian Party Radical Caucus that I resign from
> my Board position in that group effective immediately  as this issue could
> cause an appearance of a conflict of interest as they may need to vote on
> any issue regarding this.  So my voting position in my disclosed conflicts
> in that group can be removed, I remain an active dues-paying member but
> have no vote in the governance. I remain the "owner" (as much as Facebook
> groups can be owned) of the discussion group Libertarian Party USA
> (Unofficial).  There are various inactive groups and pages I may "own" that
> also contain the name, but they are dormant.
>
> Now that that is out of the way.
>
> IMHO this is a complete waste of our time and unenforceable.  I will not
> vote to spend member money on this.  Here are some reasons:
>
> While we are stuck in the statist system we have, claiming ownership over
> "words" - words that existed in a political context way before we were even
> formed is an unethical use of state force.
>
> There are records of groups doing this for decades - scattered all over
> the internet.  Selective enforcement waives that right and can raise the
> suspicion, rightly or wrongly, that this is a politically motivated move.
> And if we don't ferret out every single use and are selectively doing so
> (such as the nudist group above) it definitely will be seen as political
> and nannying.
>
> I will have to do research on this, but I remember a kerfuffle a while ago
> about the "trade mark" not being registered until after the horse was way
> out of the barn.  This came up in Colorado when we were discussing the
> implication of the Oregon issue and interference in the autonomy of
> affiliates of whether the LPCO had an independent right to its name.
>
> So we go after candidates now too?  Which are using the logo before even
> being an official nominee?  Really?  That's a great way to keep our logo
> from being spread.
>
> No bueno.
>
>
>
>
> On Sun, Aug 6, 2017 at 2:13 AM, Alicia Mattson <agmattson at gmail.com>
> wrote:
>
>> Oliver Hall's attention is requested for this email:
>>
>> LP Bylaws, Article 5.1, "No person, group or organization may use the
>> name "Libertarian Party" or any confusingly similar designation except the
>> Party or an organization to which the Party grants affiliate party status
>> or as otherwise provided in these bylaws."
>>
>> This provides a very narrow scope for use of our party name.  Yet one
>> only has to search on Facebook for the name "Libertarian Party", and you
>> will find many groups that are not the national party, and are not an
>> affiliate of the national party, but they use our party name to increase
>> their profile in search results, build their own following, and use the
>> group for their own purposes.
>>
>> One such example can be found here:  (fair warning - this page contains
>> varying degrees of nudity)
>> https://www.facebook.com/groups/233590827023815/
>>
>> We also have a trademark on the name "Libertarian Party".  My
>> understanding of intellectual property law is that we need to actively
>> defend our right to the name or else over time we diminish our ability to
>> successfully defend it.
>>
>> Our bylaws don't mention the logo, but am I correct to presume that we
>> have also staked out a legal claim to our past and present logos?
>>
>> I also see other groups (not our affiliates) using our logo in their
>> memes, incorporated into their own logos, etc.
>>
>> Some of these could potentially be rectified by merely asking the groups
>> to cease using our name and/or logo.  Others might need to receive
>> cease-and-desist letters from our attorney.
>>
>> I'd like to discuss this at our upcoming LNC meeting.  Perhaps it makes
>> sense to just make it part of the Special Counsel agenda item, since we'll
>> likely want to chat with Mr. Hall about it.
>>
>> -Alicia
>>
>>
>> _______________________________________________
>> Lnc-business mailing list
>> Lnc-business at hq.lp.org
>> http://hq.lp.org/mailman/listinfo/lnc-business_hq.lp.org
>>
>>
>
>
> --
> *In Liberty,*
> *Caryn Ann Harlos*
> Region 1 Representative, Libertarian National Committee (Alaska, Arizona,
> Colorado, Hawaii, Kansas, Montana, Utah, Wyoming, Washington) - Caryn.Ann.
> Harlos at LP.org <Caryn.Ann.Harlos at LP.org>
> Communications Director, Libertarian Party of Colorado
> <http://www.lpcolorado.org>
> Colorado State Coordinator, Libertarian Party Radical Caucus
> <http://www.lpradicalcaucus.org>
> Chair, LP Historical Preservation Committee
>
> A haiku to the Statement of Principles:
> *We defend your rights*
> *And oppose the use of force*
> *Taxation is theft*
>
>
>
>
> _______________________________________________
> Lnc-business mailing list
> Lnc-business at hq.lp.org
> http://hq.lp.org/mailman/listinfo/lnc-business_hq.lp.org
>
> _______________________________________________
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> http://hq.lp.org/mailman/listinfo/lnc-business_hq.lp.org
>
> _______________________________________________
> Lnc-business mailing list
> Lnc-business at hq.lp.org
> http://hq.lp.org/mailman/listinfo/lnc-business_hq.lp.org
>
-- 
*In Liberty,*
*Caryn Ann Harlos*
Region 1 Representative, Libertarian National Committee (Alaska, Arizona,
Colorado, Hawaii, Kansas, Montana, Utah, Wyoming, Washington) - Caryn.Ann.
Harlos at LP.org <Caryn.Ann.Harlos at LP.org>
Communications Director, Libertarian Party of Colorado
<http://www.lpcolorado.org>
Chair, LP Historical Preservation Committee

A haiku to the Statement of Principles:
*We defend your rights*
*And oppose the use of force*
*Taxation is theft*
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