词汇大师(Wordmaster)--Trademarking 'Freedom of Expression

Broadcast on "Coast to Coast": February 6, 2003

AA: I'm Avi Arditti with Rosanne Skirble, and this week on Wordmaster -- meet Kembrew McLeod. He's an assistant professor of communications [studies] at the University of Iowa.

A few years ago, Mr. McLeod registered a trademark¹, which means he bought the rights to exclusive commercial use of a certain graphic² design or, in this case, a phrase. There's nothing so unusual about that. Businesses trademark slogans all the time. What is unusual is that the trademark Mr. McLeod registered is "freedom of expression."

RS: The first person to point out the irony³ in this is Kembrew McLeod himself: owning the phrase "freedom of expression" means the power to restrict freedom of expression. Recently his lawyer sent the big telecommunications giant A-T- and-T a letter warning the company against using the trademark in an advertisement.

McLEOD: "A trademark basically gives the owner of the trademark a monopoly over the use of that image, phrase, whatever the trademark is."

RS: "But how can you trademark a common expression?"

McLEOD: "I'd like to turn that question around to the United States Patent and Trademark Office, which is the entity⁴ that gave me the trademark 'freedom of expression.' Because initially⁵ when I first applied⁶ for it, it was primarily just a test. It was, you know, this little socially conscious prank⁷ in which I wanted to see if the U.S.P.T.O. would give someone a monopoly right over the use of 'freedom of expression.'

"Fortunately for me as a critic, but unfortunately for every other American citizen, the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office didn't see the idea of someone owning 'freedom of expression' (as being) morally, socially or political unsettling, and they gave it to me."

AA: "Did anyone call you and say why do you want to own freedom of expression?"

McLEOD: "No, you just have to demonstrate that the mark has been used in commerce, and Freedom of Expression is the name of a publication that I've been putting out for eight years."

AA: "So you now own the rights to one of our basic American freedoms?"

McLEOD: "Yes."

AA: "Are you doing this to sort of protect it from big business? What are you doing with 鈥榝reedom of expression,鈥?how are you keeping it safe?"

McLEOD: "First of all, I kind of joke that we're lucky at least that I trademarked 鈥榝reedom of expression鈥?before Disney did. But the main reason is it's a very kind of, not shocking in the most extreme sense, but it's a way of kind of making people snap to attention, pay attention to the way in which much of our culture has been privatized. Our basic grammar and syntax of popular culture has been trademarked."

RS: "What do you hope happens because of this exercise?"

McLEOD: "Basically, without doing this, without creating this kind of spectacle, there's no way that I would have been able to get -- well, push my agenda, push my concerns to the front and have it run as the lead story, a story about intellectual property law, run as the lead story on local news, which typically covers either crime or farm crises in Iowa or whatever."

AA: "And how old are you?"

McLEOD: "I'm thirty-two."

AA: "Thirty-two, you've taken on A-T-and-T. Have you heard from them yet?"

McLEOD: "I haven't heard from my lawyer yet. They did already have a prepared statement, though, about me, that I'm a self-proclaimed prankster and this is just a frivolous⁸ exercise, blah, blah, blah." RS: "In defense⁹ of the trademark, isn't there -- there must be a reason to have a trademark to begin with. So are you saying that this is just out of balance?"

McLEOD: "Yes. I'm an artist -- I'm a filmmaker -- and a lot of my friends are writers, and I'm a writer also. I make money off royalties¹⁰ and a lot of my friends do. I don't want to destroy (the) system. That would basically keep friends and other people like me from making money from their art.

"I don't see a problem with copyright and trademark in theory, but the problem is the way it's been used and applied by big companies in a way that overreaches the original intent -- for instance, trademark. So an artist that decides to incorporate a Disney character in a satirical way in their art, there are many examples of artists who have received cease-and-desist letters from Disney.

"And the whole point of trademark is basically to avoid confusion in the marketplace. We don't want consumers to be confused about whether or not they are picking up the authentic¹¹ Tide detergent¹², washing detergent, or not. That's why trademarks¹³ exist."

AA: "Has anyone come to you so far and said 'we want to start something called Freedom of Expression, may we have your permission or buy a license¹⁴ from you?'"

McLEOD: "Yes. There's a skateboard company that came to me. I guess they were doing a search on the Patent and Trademark Office Web site and found that I had trademarked 鈥榝reedom of expression,鈥?and they wanted to print T-shirts that say 鈥榝reedom of expression.鈥?

RS: And you know what -- he told them go right ahead. Kembrew McLeod is an assistant professor in the Department of Communications Studies at the University of Iowa.

AA: He's lent his trademark certificate to an exhibit called "Illegal Art," on display this month in a Chicago gallery. You can see a copy of it on our Web site, voanews.com/wordmaster. And feel free to express yourself by e-mail -- our address is [email protected]. With Rosanne Skirble, I'm Avi Arditti.

1 trademark   

n.商标；特征；vt.注册的…商标

参考例句：

• The trademark is registered on the book of the Patent Office.该商标已在专利局登记注册。
• The trademark of the pen was changed.这钢笔的商标改了。

2 graphic   

adj.生动的，形象的，绘画的，文字的，图表的

参考例句：

• The book gave a graphic description of the war.这本书生动地描述了战争的情况。
• Distinguish important text items in lists with graphic icons.用图标来区分重要的文本项。

3 irony   

n.反语，冷嘲；具有讽刺意味的事，嘲弄

参考例句：

• She said to him with slight irony.她略带嘲讽地对他说。
• In her voice we could sense a certain tinge of irony.从她的声音里我们可以感到某种讥讽的意味。

4 entity   

n.实体，独立存在体，实际存在物

参考例句：

• The country is no longer one political entity.这个国家不再是一个统一的政治实体了。
• As a separate legal entity,the corporation must pay taxes.作为一个独立的法律实体，公司必须纳税。

5 initially   

adv.最初，开始

参考例句：

• The ban was initially opposed by the US.这一禁令首先遭到美国的反对。
• Feathers initially developed from insect scales.羽毛最初由昆虫的翅瓣演化而来。

6 applied   

adj.应用的；v.应用，适用

参考例句：

• She plans to take a course in applied linguistics.她打算学习应用语言学课程。
• This cream is best applied to the face at night.这种乳霜最好晚上擦脸用。

7 prank   

n.开玩笑，恶作剧；v.装饰；打扮；炫耀自己

参考例句：

• It was thought that the fire alarm had been set off as a prank.人们认为火警报警器响是个恶作剧。
• The dean was ranking the boys for pulling the prank.系主任正在惩罚那些恶作剧的男学生。

8 frivolous   

adj.轻薄的；轻率的

参考例句：

• This is a frivolous way of attacking the problem.这是一种轻率敷衍的处理问题的方式。
• He spent a lot of his money on frivolous things.他在一些无聊的事上花了好多钱。

9 defense   

n.防御，保卫；[pl.]防务工事；辩护，答辩

参考例句：

• The accused has the right to defense.被告人有权获得辩护。
• The war has impacted the area with military and defense workers.战争使那个地区挤满了军队和防御工程人员。

10 royalties   

特许权使用费

参考例句：

• I lived on about £3,000 a year from the royalties on my book. 我靠着写书得来的每年约3，000英镑的版税生活。 来自辞典例句
• Payments shall generally be made in the form of royalties. 一般应采取提成方式支付。 来自经济法规部分

11 authentic   

a.真的，真正的；可靠的，可信的，有根据的

参考例句：

• This is an authentic news report. We can depend on it. 这是篇可靠的新闻报道, 我们相信它。
• Autumn is also the authentic season of renewal. 秋天才是真正的除旧布新的季节。

12 detergent   

n.洗涤剂；adj.有洗净力的

参考例句：

• He recommended a new detergent to me.他向我推荐一种新的洗涤剂。
• This detergent can remove stubborn stains.这种去污剂能去除难洗的污渍。

13 trademarks   

n.（注册）商标( trademark的名词复数 )；（人的行为或衣着的）特征，标记

参考例句：

• Motrin and Nuprin are trademarks of brands of ibuprofen tablets. Nuprin和Motrin均是布洛芬的商标。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Many goods in China have the trademarks of a panda. 中国的许多商品都带有熊猫的商标。 来自《简明英汉词典》

14 license   

n.执照，许可证，特许；v.许可，特许

参考例句：

• The foreign guest has a license on the person.这个外国客人随身携带执照。
• The driver was arrested for having false license plates on his car.司机由于使用假车牌而被捕。