Michigan Candidate For State Rep Tries Trademarking High School Mascot Name To Prevent Name Change

Trademark

from the not-how-that-works dept

Welcome to the realm of the very, very stupid. There are a couple of purposes of trademark law. The first and most obvious of them is that they are used to make sure the public knows from whom or from where a particular good or service comes from. It’s a measure to protect the public, in other words. It’s also useful for companies looking to preserve their own reputation and goodwill from having others tarnish their good names by creating false associations with unassociated goods and services.

What you will notice is missing from that very short list is any reference to trademark law being a valid method for forcing a local high school to keep an antiquated mascot name. And, yet, that is exactly what one aspiring (as in, she’s running in the primary…) Michigan House rep is attempting to do. Margaret Brumm has been raging against Marquette Area Public Schools (MAPS) from changing its mascot name to the “Sentinels.” The previous mascot name was the “Redmen.”

Margaret Brumm has previously called for the school to halt efforts to transition to the Sentinels name, conduct a poll to gauge the community’s desire to change the name, and have a financial analysis of how much the rebranding would cost.

In a Sunday email to Local 3, Brumm said she is now calling for the board to:

• vote on a resolution to revert back to the “Redmen” name for the next eight years
• survey MAPS voters and students every year until then “to ask if they are ‘okay’ with the name remaining Marquette Redmen or if they would rather change it.” Brumm then proposes that “if 51% of the people surveyed want the change, then the name can be changed,” and vice versa.

Now, I want to be clear about something: the “Redmen” name was actually not originally derived from any sort of awful reference to Native Americans. Instead, attendees of the school used to be adorned in red sweaters, hence the “Redmen” name. That being said, the school since deviated from that origination of the name and adopted Native American themes, so even though the name didn’t have racist origins, we managed to get there anyway. As a result, the school decided to change the name.

Now, you can think whatever you like about the name in general or Brumm’s calls for polls and whatnot, but you’re not allowed to think it’s okay for her to try to force the board’s hand by going out and applying for a trademark on the “Sentinels” name, which is exactly what she did. And what makes this all the more insane is that Brumm is an intellectual property lawyer.

While she’s a patent lawyer, law professor and candidate for state representative, Brumm says her recent actions come from her as a person with deep family history in the Upper Peninsula.

“Absolutely no campaign money has been spent or will be spent on this,” Brumm said. “This is not a campaign issue. This is Margaret Brumm taking action.”

The trademark application will almost certainly be denied. She’s not actually using it in commerce and her reason for applying for the mark is plain and publicly stated. She’s trying to strongarm the school board into backing down on the name change. And, as the firm that the school has working for it on this matter explains, that is fucking bullshit.

In a Wednesday release, attorney David Casimir said Brumm’s attempts to trademark elements of the “Marquette Sentinels” nickname is being done in bad faith, listing out his reasoning in a four-page document. The attorney said acts of bad faith include digital renderings of “specimen of use,” which Brumm used in her original federal trademark filing, as well as “token commercial activity” to simulate the appearance of the use of the mark in public.

“It is improper to apply for a trademark in bad faith – that is, where the applicant has no
bona fide intention to use the mark in commerce, but rather intends to harass or extort others or to interfere with the use of a brand by its rightful owner,” said Casimir.

No notes, that comment is just about perfect. Brumm is playing games and, as a patent attorney, she almost certainly knows better.

In fact, one has to wonder if the state bar is okay with this kind of chicanery from an officer of the court. I don’t expect her trademark to be approved, nor do I expect the school to find itself with any other mascot name than the one it has chosen. All that really remains is seeing if Brumm is going to face any consequences for this nonsense.

Filed Under: margaret brumm, marquette, mascots, michigan, sentinels, trademark