Since Donald Trump was nominated to represent Republicans in the presidential election, hundreds of trademarks containing his name have been registered, mainly in the United States. And of course, his election to the White House has in no way calmed the flood of registrations, quite the contrary. A real battle of sympathizers and protesters is being fought on the registers! Here is a collection of the most beautiful pearls.
Among the pro Trumpers are:
- the optimists, who already believed in it before the election: "WIN TRUMP WIN", "DON'T BE A CHUMP, VOTE FOR TRUMP", "YOU CAN'T SPELL TRIUMPH WITHOUT TRUMP", "PUMP FOR TRUMP"...
- the fanatics, who also believe in 2020: "DTRUMP 2020", "TRUMP HARDER 2020", "TRUMP PENCE 2020"...
- the supporters: "ITALIANS4TRUMP", "IN TRUMP WE TRUST", "FIST BUMP FOR PRESIDENT TRUMP", "BIKERS FOR TRUMP"...
The anti Trump are sometimes in the most poetic. It says:
- Hardcore opponents: "TRUMPOCALYPSE", "IMPEACH TRUMP", "I AM THE ANTITRUMP", "ANTI-TRUMP BOX", "THE PEOPLE AGAINST DONALD TRUMP", "TRUMP RESISTANCE MOVEMENT"...
- the ironics: "THE GREAT WALL OF TRUMP", "I HAVE BEEN TWEETED BY TRUMP", "WHAT WOULD TRUMP DO?", "MR TRUMP, MEET AMERICA", "POST-TRUMP STRESS DISORDER"...
- the comedians: "TRUMPHOBIA", "DUMP THE TRUMP", "TRUMP YOU!", "TRUMP DON'T SURF", "JUST TRUMP IT!"
- the frankly angry ones: "TRUMP'S PACK OF LIES", "TRUMP TRASH", "COWARLDY LYIN' TRUMP"...
In between, there are also those who are just trying to take advantage of the situation: "TRUMPMOJI", "TALKING TRUMP DOLL", "TRUMP CHAMPAGNE", TRUMPSINGLES.COM"...
It remains to be seen how many of these marks will pass the examination stage: in the United States, and unlike France, the trademark office conducts a substantive examination. If there is already an earlier trademark identical or close to the one that has been filed, in the same sector of activity or a related field, the examiner must refuse the registration of the most recent one in order to preserve the monopoly of the first one. In France, it is up to the owner of the earlier trademark to monitor his trademark (the INPI does not warn of the filing of a close subsequent trademark), and above all to file opposition to prevent its registration (the INPI does not have the power, outside of opposition proceedings, to refuse to register a trademark on the basis of the existence of an earlier right).
Of course, most of these trademarks have not been registered for products or services related in any way to construction, the core business of the Trump empire. But Mr. President has always made a point of protecting his name against anything and everything, and above all, it must be said, for anything and everything. Just look at the number of products bearing his name sold by his company: perfumes, clothing, mineral water, furniture, mirrors, household linen... His trademark is therefore naturally protected for a wide range of products and services.
Apart from Trump's earlier trademarks, these filings could also be refused by the US administration on the grounds of infringement of a surname. Indeed, in order to register a family name in the United States, one needs the written consent of the person who bears that name, or to demonstrate good faith (for example, one bears the name oneself). In the present case, the bad faith of the applicants seems quite obvious.
In short, these marks are unlikely to ever be registered, and so much the worse for the opportunists who saw the most unlikely election of 2016 as a juicy vein to exploit.