WHY ARE THE MONGOLS MC DOING THIS ? QUESTIONS ANSWERED

#MONGOLS #MONGOLSMC #MONGOLMCSPATCH
Over 15 years in the motorcycle club scene, 30 years in the biker scene, James Hollywood Macecari reviews news happening out of the biker scene. Author of 3 books on the motorcycle club scene. Brotherhood & Betrayal, New Age of Biking & Brotherhood and Iron Order https://amzn.to/3mao5oI
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In 2008, nearly 80 Mongols members were charged in a sweeping racketeering case that included an array of alleged murders, assaults and drug deals. The charges were the culmination of Operation Black Rain, an investigation that centered on paid informants and undercover agents from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives who infiltrated the club’s ranks.
Prosecutors devised the strategy of stripping the Mongols of its trademarks in this earlier case. At a news conference announcing the charges, then-U.S. Atty. Thomas P. O’Brien laid out the strategy, saying that taking control of the trademarked insignia would give the government the authority to force Mongols members to remove their image from their riding jackets.

00:00 WHY ARE THEY DOING THIS
00:54 This is why it’s important
04:30 Was it Wrong the relationship
07:00 What is the motion to vacate about
11:09 The first of it’s kind legal fight
14:28 The prosecutor jumped on this

🔥Trademark law does not let a trademark owner exert its trademark rights to stop news reporting about it or its products or services. You see proof of this everyday on the front pages of newspapers, the homepages of news websites, and countless blogs. Mainstream reporters and non-traditional journalists routinely report on earnings announcements, job lay-offs, and accounting scandals without worrying that they are infringing or diluting the trademarks of the companies and organizations they report on. There are several legal bases for this result: there is no risk of confusion between the news source and the trademark owner; nominative fair use protects this use of the trademark owner's mark; and the federal dilution statute expressly exempts "news reporting and news commentary" from a dilution claim. See 15 U.S.C. § 1125(c)(3)(B). As noted above, one court has held that a blogger's critical commentary on a company qualified as "news reporting and news commentary." See BidZirk, LLC v. Smith, 2007 WL 3119445 (D.S.C. Oct. 22, 2007).
Trademark law does not permit a trademark owner to use its trademark rights to silence commentary and criticism. As with news reporting, courts recognize the important First Amendment values at stake and usually deny efforts by trademark owners to encroach on legitimate commentary and criticism. There are several legal bases for this result: there is no risk of confusion between the commentator and the trademark owner, and nominative fair use may protect this use of the trademark owner's mark. Additionally, courts are likely to find that your use of a trademark in commentary or criticism is "not in connection with a good or service" and "noncommercial" (the argument is especially strong for the latter category). But note that some courts may find your use of a trademark for criticism and commentary to be commercial if you host advertising or link to commercial websites. In any event, to defeat a trademark dilution claim, you do not even need to show that your use is noncommercial. The federal dilution statute creates a categorical exemption for "criticizing . . . or commenting upon the famous mark owner or the goods or services of the famous mark owner." 15 U.S.C. § 1125(c)(3)(A)(ii). 🔥

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