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| Chilling Effects Clearinghouse > Trademark > Weather Reports > MoveOn In Court To Challenge Trademark Cease-and-Desist Order | 
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|  MoveOn In Court To Challenge Trademark Cease-and-Desist OrderNaomi Gillens, Chilling Effects Staff, April 01, 2014 Abstract: Advocacy group MoveOn.org is in court defending its use of Louisiana's tourism logo and motto in this billboard criticizing Governor Bobby Jindal's decision not to expand Medicaid. Advocacy group MoveOn.org is in court defending its use of Louisiana's tourism logo and motto in this billboard criticizing Governor Bobby Jindal's decision not to expand Medicaid. Shortly after the campaign launched, Louisiana Lieutenant Governor Jay Dardenne demanded that MoveOn remove the billboard, claiming that it infringes on Louisiana's trademarked tourism campaign. We are happy to be able to share this notice with the public here. In his complaint, Dardenne suggests that MoveOn's use of the tourism logo may confuse the public into thinking that the billboard is actually sponsored by the office of the Lieutenant Governor. Such confusion does not constitute trademark infringement in works of parody, but Dardenne argues that the billboard "does not constitute parody under the fair-use doctrine because the subject of the parody, Governor Bobby Jindal, is not the author of the Service Marks, as is required." MoveOn has responded that the cease-and-desist order is a thinly veiled attempt to prevent the advocacy organization from exercising its constitutional right to engage in critical political speech. No matter how the court decides this particular case, the controversy is reflective of a wider problem. As we at Chilling Effects have discussed before, takedown notices are all-too-often used illegitimately to chill First Amendment-protected activity. We hope that by making this takedown notice and others like it available to the public, our database will help researchers learn more about how intellectual property law is misused to chill legitimate speech.
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