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Court Defends Honest Discussion of Proposed Trademark in Freecycle v. Oey |
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EFF welcomes a victory for online free speech in Freecycle v. Oey, a case from the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals upholding the right to engage in open discussion about words companies are trying to trademark without the fear of being sued. EFF signed onto the amicus brief written by Stanford Law Professor Mark Lemley arguing that such discussions were not trademark violations.
The Freecycle Network Inc. (TFN), operates freecycle.org, a hub site for localized groups of people seeking a quick and easy way to give and receive stuff for free. TFN filed a federal trademark application for the term "freecycle." Tim Oey, once involved with TFN, took to the Internet to urge people to oppose TFN's effort to trademark the term, arguing that freecycling should be a grassroots movement.
TFN sued to squelch Oey's speech and moved for a court injunction prohibiting him from expressing his opinions.
TFN argued that he had infringed and disparaged its trademark and managed to convince a district court judge in Arizona to grant the injunction. On appeal, however, the Ninth Circuit ruled that Oey's honest opinion about Freecycle's trademark rights could not be stamped out by a claim of trademark infringement under the Lanham Act.
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