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The unlikely battle over "Freedom of Expression"

Remember trademark hoarder man? You know, Leo Stoller, the guy Charles wrote about earlier, the one who essentially claims to own all usages of the word "stealth," along with a number of other common expressions? Stoller, you may recall, makes his living by sending frivolous cease-and-desist notices to companies, who pay him off -- despite their legal rights -- because it's cheaper to settle than fight.

Since one of the phrases Stoller claims to own is "freedom of expression," Charles contacted our man Kembrew McLeod, who trademarked that phrase a few years ago. Kembrew, in turn, contacted the owners of freedomofexpression.org, freedom-of-expression.com, and freedom-of-expression.org, and together they formed the Freedom of Expression® Security Consortium. The group is now giving Stoller a taste of his own medicine and are demanding that he cease and desist from using the phrase.

We'll let you know how Stoller responds. Mean time, you can read the Consortium's letter below the fold.

Updated letter 7/22/05 (earlier version was only a draft)

Leo Stoller
Rentamark.com
P O Box 35189
Chicago, IL 60707-0189

Re: Freedom of Expression

July 22, 2005

Dear Mr. Stoller,

Please be advised that we are stakeholders in the Freedom of
Expression® Security Consortium (FESC), which, as our motto states,
“regulates freedom in the marketplace of ideas.” We are writing in
response to your infringing use of FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION, a federally
registered trademark that is controlled by FESC member Kembrew McLeod,
who owns the domain http://freedomofexpression.us. This mark, granted
by the USPTO on January 6, 1998, is also used as the title of Dr.
McLeod’s book, published in 2005 by Doubleday/Random House.

In the July 4, 2005 New York Timesarticle about your business, “He Says
He Owns the Word ‘Stealth,’” you said, “If a trademark owner doesn’t go
up to the plate each day and police his mark, he will be overrun by
third-party infringers.” Also, as you state on Rentamark.com, “There is
no free well-known intellectual property left in the 21st Century. No
free rides!” As a group that monitors unauthorized uses of FREEDOM OF
EXPRESSION, we couldn’t agree more.

In the course of policing FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION, we at FESC (consisting
of the websites freedomofexpression.us, freedomofexpression.org,
freedom-of-expression.org, and freedom-of-expression.com) have learned
of your infringement, which can be found at this URL:
http://www.rentamark.com/e-marks/E-I/e-i.html.

We are troubled by (1) your unrestrained use of FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION
and (2) the fact that you have offered to license this phrase to third
parties without permission. After all, not just anybody can utilize
FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION, and it is clear that your use of this phrase
constitutes unfair competition and a blurring and tarnishing of this
federally registered mark.

FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION will be substantially and irreparably damaged
should this infringement continue. We, therefore, demand that
Rentamark.com immediately cease and desist using FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION
within five days. We eagerly await your response.

Very truly yours,

Kembrew McLeod
http://freedomofexpression.us/
Freedom of Expression® Security Consortium
1037 E. Washington St.
Iowa City, IA 52240
kembrew@freedomofexpression.us

cc:
John Joseph Bachir http://freedomofexpression.org/
Fletcher Moore http://freedom-of-expression.com/
Julie Gilbe http://freedom-of-expression.org/