[Lnc-business] protecting party assets

Mon Aug 7 12:29:49 EDT 2017

Someone has an illegal tattoo.  Who's going to take it?

Brace yourself. Ten million Facebook groups using Libertarian Party XYZ are
coming.

-Caryn Ann

On Mon, Aug 7, 2017 at 10:25 AM Caryn Ann Harlos <carynannharlos at gmail.com>
wrote:

> Oregon certainly does.  There is a PAC using our name.
>
> When I see that name at the top of the target list rather than a silly
> Facebook group - who is promoting our values- then I will cease to think
> that this more than political maneuvering.
>
> The utter foolishness of this tact astounds me.  And I moderate a
> libertarian discussion group.  I thought nothing could astound me.
>
> I'm sure donors will LOVE our efforts going to attack our own activists
> rather than say, candidate support or ballot access.
>
> And it's unenforceable.
>
> And this is going to be a fun convention in a way we won't like.  I don't
> think we could think of a worse way to provoke antics than actually
> targeting the Nudity Caucus.
>
> -Caryn Ann
>
> -Caryn Ann
>
>
>
> On Mon, Aug 7, 2017 at 10:07 AM Joshua Katz <planning4liberty at gmail.com>
> wrote:
>
>> I am skeptical on IP.  Nonetheless, I believe that this board is not an
>> ideological sounding chamber, but a governing board, and takes its
>> fiduciary responsibilities in the real world, not our ideology.  I do not
>> think we're fulfilling our responsibilities if we acquire IP and then fail
>> to defend it.  In the case of purchased IP such as our logo, that amounts
>> to giving away money.
>>
>> Regarding pre-nomination candidates: Sure, we want to see our logo being
>> made visible far and wide.  So does, say, Cabot Cheeses.  But it doesn't
>> follow that Cabot will be thankful if some other cheese company throws
>> their logo onto their product.  The logo doesn't exist just to be seen, but
>> to function as a form of imprimatur.  To allow pre-nomination candidates to
>> use it (other than when the state affiliate has said they can, which I am
>> fine with) is to allow people to represent themselves as being approved by
>> us, with absolutely no process.
>>
>> The same holds for groups.  It is was mentioned somewhere in this thread
>> that, well, people can do research and see if the group actually speaks for
>> this party.  I disagree entirely.  No good advertisement rests on the
>> viewer doing further research, and people who are offended by the group
>> seeming to speak for us (such as the Augustus Invictus / Hoppe Caucus) are
>> not going to do further research - they're just going to conclude they
>> don't like us, and tell all their friends the same thing.
>>
>> RE:  Oregon:  Suffice it to say I disagree with just about everything
>> that's been said on the topic on this thread, but I'm also not sure it's
>> relevant anyway.  The fight in Oregon is over who the leadership is of the
>> affiliate, not who the affiliate is, and therefore I think it's a bit off
>> the point to refer to the PAC as relevant here.  The point remains, though
>> - whoever the leadership is, presumably they will decide to whom they grant
>> permission to use our IP.  All sides should agree, I would think, that
>> whoever is not the leadership (I am sure I know who that is, but seem to
>> have failed to convince this board) should not be able to give out
>> permission to use our IP.  I don't think the Oregon question, therefore,
>> has anything at all to do with how this matter should be decided.
>>
>> Joshua A. Katz
>>
>>
>> On Sun, Aug 6, 2017 at 3:13 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
>>>
>>>
>> _______________________________________________
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>> 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*
>
>
>
>
> --
*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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