by Greg Blankenship
This is a political opinion web site i.e. journalism. Your rights to your trade name are limited.
News reporting and non commercial use are limits to trade mark rights. Both of which are applicable here. Illinois Review is not selling anything and contributors engage in political journalism.
You can .
also use your trademarked name for comparing two products or as a parody. For example, to say that you are a poor firm compared to Dowe, Cheatem & How is legal. To say that you are better than they is also legal. It's appropriate to report on the law firm of Peter Francis Geraci in conjunction with employees or partners making campaign contributions or for that matter not making campaign contributions. We can also say, for example, that last year's bankrupcty reforms were a good thing for firms such as Peter Francis Geraci, or we can say it was a bad thing for firms such as Perter Francis Geraci. We can also say, Nike, Proctor & Gamble, Exxon and any other number trade names all damn day and there is nothing anyone can do about it.
Mr. Stoolmaker, with the number hits on blogs and their power to shape news, break stories you do your brand identity no good by threatening political activists engaged in political speech. It's the kind of thing that can make you infamous in a hurry.
For a good Q&A on what we can do and not do with trade names, go here.
