Tuesday, March 27, 2012

Sybrina Fulton: Trayvon Trademarks

Trayvon Martin's mother, Sybrina Fulton, 46, is seeking to trademark her son's name.

From Reuters:

The mother of the Florida teenager shot and killed by a neighborhood watch volunteer, in a case with racial overtones that has resonated across the United States, is seeking trademark rights to slogans based on his name.

Sybrina Fulton, the mother of 17-year-old Trayvon Martin, filed the trademark requests on March 21, according to the online database of the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.

In the filings, which were confirmed by Fulton's attorney Kimra Major-Morris, she seeks legal rights to the slogans "Justice for Trayvon" and "I Am Trayvon."

The request to the Patent and Trademark Office said the slogans, and the corresponding trademarks, could be used in matters involving such things as DVDs and CDs "featuring and promoting Trayvon Martin."

...[T]he February 26 killing of Martin, who was black, by George Zimmerman, a white Hispanic, has triggered widespread charges of racial profiling and injustice.

I don't get this "white Hispanic" stuff.

Reuters doesn't call Obama the first "white African American" president.

But I digress.

More on the trademarks, from the Smoking Gun:

Sybrina Fulton is seeking marks for the phrases “I Am Trayvon” and “Justice for Trayvon,” according to filings made last week with the United States Patent and Trademark Office. In both instances, Fulton, 46, is seeking the trademarks for use on “Digital materials, namely, CDs and DVDs featuring Trayvon Martin,” and other products.

The March 21 USPTO applications, each of which cost $325, were filed by an Orlando, Florida law firm representing Fulton, whose first name is spelled "Sabrina" in the trademark records.

This is a little strange.

It's possible Fulton wants to prevent others from profiting from her son's death and exploiting his name and image. I can understand the family wanting to protect Trayvon's memory.

It's also possible she sees an opportunity to make a profit.

I hope that's not the case.

This really has become a circus, a circus with the participants wearing hoodies.

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