Examiner Denies 'Obama bin Laden' Trademark

In the world of Politics, candidate supporters and opposers are willing to go to great lengths to support their candidate or hinder another candidate's chances of winning: running negative ads, participating in rallies to oppose items on a candidate's platform, and campaigning actively for their own candidate. Miami Beach resident Alexandre Batlle recently took actions that might have hindered the campaign of a well-known politician, until the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office denied a critical step in his efforts.

Barack Obama is a Democratic senator from Illinois who recently announced his bid for the 2008 Presidential election. A relative unknown just a few years ago, Obama saw his popularity skyrocket after his keynote speech at the 2004 Democratic Convention. During Obama's rise to nationwide exposure, some people thought that the name "Obama" was eerily similar to that of another individual: Osama bin Laden. Bin Laden, of course, is the mastermind behind the infamous September 11 terrorist attacks.

Battle operates a website, www.obamabinladen.net, which reads as a combination of the politician’s and terrorist’s names, and site users can purchase coffee mugs, T-shirts, and other similar products that contain the phrase "Obama bin Laden." Seeking protection for the phrase, Batlle recently applied for a trademark with the Trademark Office.

Currently, various trademarks exist that relate to either Obama or bin Laden. The Obama trademarks are mostly slogans for his campaigns, such as "Obama - O Baby!" and "I back Barack." The bin Laden trademarks are mostly for products and T-shirt slogans that speak of America's disdain for him, such as "Osama bin Laden" for garbage cans and rodent traps, and "Trash bin Laden" for a T-shirt slogan. A trademark exists even for a combination of the two names: "Obama vs Osama in 2008."

Batlle's effort, however, fell short, as the Office rejected his application last week. The Office rejects an application for anything immoral or scandalous, and because the public has come to associate bin Laden with the acts of September 11, the name bin Laden is indeed scandalous and not registrable. The term 'Obama' in the mark also clearly refers to the Illinois senator, and to register the mark, Batlle needs to submit written consent from both individuals authorizing Batlle to register their names. Seeing as though bin Laden is the U.S.'s most wanted man and Obama likely does not want to be associated with bin Laden during his Presidential campaign, Batlle has to come up with a non-scandalous mark if he wishes to obtain any trademark protection.