Canadian Political Party Threatens Widow For Using Its Logo In Ad Criticizing Canadian Government

from the how-do-you-spell-streisand-in-canadian dept

Canadian Michaela Keyserlingk lost her husband Robert to mesothelioma in 2009. Thats the form of cancer commonly associated with exposure to asbestos. Not surprisingly, shes not particularly happy about asbestos, and shes taken to running online banner ads against asbestos as part of her response. The ads say:Canada is the only western country that still exports deadly asbestos. And, heres the tricky part:it apparently includes the logo of the (ruling) Conservative Party in Canada. As Rob Hyndman alerts us, the Conservative Party is not at all happy. In fact, its threatening to sue her for trademark infringement. The Globe & Mail story linked here doesnt do anything useful like show the actual banner, so weve hunted it down, and you can see it below:

Thats the partys logo on the right, of course. You can see why the party might be upset, but damn, was it ever a braindead move to threaten a poor old widow for trademark infringement over something like this. As even the woman notes, she doesnt have much money. Threatening and/or suing her doesnt do a damn thing... other than give her campaign a ton of free attention.

Michaela Keyserlingk fights Canadian Ruling party on Asbestos.
This is a big story in Canada. Canadian Political Party Threatens Widow For Using Its Logo In Ad Criticizing Canadian Government from the how-do-you-spell-streisand-in-canadian dept Canadian Michaela Keyserlingk lost her husband Robert to mesothelioma in 2009. Thats the form of cancer commonly associated with exposure to asbestos. Not surprisingly, shes not particularly happy about asbestos, and shes taken to running online banner ads against asbestos as part of her response. The ads say:Canada is the only western country that still exports deadly asbestos. And, heres the tricky part:it apparently includes the logo of the (ruling) Conservative Party in Canada. As Rob Hyndman alerts us, the Conservative Party is not at all happy. In fact, its threatening to sue her for trademark infringement. The Globe & Mail story linked here doesnt do anything useful like show the actual banner, so weve hunted it down, and you can see it below: Thats the partys logo on the right, of course. You can see why the party might be upset, but damn, was it ever a braindead move to threaten a poor old widow for trademark infringement over something like this. As even the woman notes, she doesnt have much money. Threatening and/or suing her doesnt do a damn thing... other than give her campaign a ton of free attention. This piece appeared in the blog:www.Techdirt.com Sander August 2011.
By: Tuesday, August 16, 2011

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