From: Paul Levy
Date: September 15, 2005 2:55:44 PM EDT
To: dave@farber.net
Subject: New developments on anti-free speech trademark revision bill
I recently learned that the Association of the Bar of the City of New York ("ABCNY"), a highly respected bar group whose members belong to some of New York's biggest private law firms, has joined Public Citizen, the ACLU, EFF and Public Knowledge in opposing the present form of HR 683. That bill would amend section 43(c) of the Lanham Act in ways that wuold drastically increase the exposure of consumers and small businesses to litigation from large national corporations for violating their trademarks based on purely npon-commercial commentary. The ABCNY conducted a detailed study of the provisions of the proposed legislation and issued a report last spring, but apparently they refrained from disseminating the report because they had no idea that other groups were also opposed.
So, although proponents of the change have portrayed the trademark bar as being united in favor of the bill, that claim is highly misleading.
The ABCNY's study, and their proposed changes in HR 683, can be found on the ABCNY web site at http://www.abcny.org/pdf/report/nyc1-560488-6.pdf
Paul Alan Levy
Public Citizen Litigation Group
1600 - 20th Street, N.W.
Washington, D.C. 20009
(202) 588-1000
http://www.citizen.org/litigation