Sarah Palin "Trademark": The Backlash

By The Week

25 June 11

t looks like Alaska's most famous politician will get her name trademarked after all. Cue the mockery!

Sarah Palin took some ribbing earlier this year for failing to sign an application to trademark her name. But now, after she and daughter Bristol resubmitted their paperwork, and nobody challenged it, the names Sarah Palin and Bristol Palin will be trademarked within three months. Sarah Palin is claiming a trademark for both references to "political issues" online and "educational and entertainment services," including "motivational speaking." Entertainment and politics? Bloggers and the Twitterati couldn't resist such a big target:

Only in America!
"Sarah Palin will soon be making people pay for trying to cash in on her name"? says David Gardner in Britain's Daily Mail. "Unflippingbelievable!"

Totally reasonable
I guess "every great vice presidential candidate-turned-professional public speaker needs a registered trademark attached to their name," says Alistair Murray at his blog. "Such normal people," the Palins.

How was this so easy?
Given how contentious everything about Palin is, "amazingly, nobody seems to have challenged" the trademark application, says Joshua Green at The Atlantic. Regardless, "better hold off on those bootleg Palin T-shirts you were thinking about printing up."

Poor Tina Fey!
Forget merchandise. "I wonder how this will impact Sarah Palin impersonators?" says Chris Menning at Buzzfeed.

At least we know her 2012 plans
Because "you know people who trademark their names for commerce are serious about running for president," tweets The Nation's Ari Melber.

Nice try, haters
Actually, "if Palin is running she just bought herself one powerful weapon against those who want to smear her," says Clifton B. at Another Black Conservative. People who want to write "nasty things" about Palin now have a choice: "Either pay up or they shut down."

Thank goodness she can't trademark nicknames
I get that the Palins are trying to censor their critics, says Gryphen at The Immoral Minority. But "unless Sarah also plans on trademarking 'Granny Grifter,' 'Snowdrift Snooki,' 'The Grizzled Mama,' and 'Klondike Kardashian,'" her war on snark is doomed.

We protest!
And here we were thinking this was just "another dumb-fool thing the Palins would do," says Honolulu Notes. Well, if they think "this means we have to put TM after their name each time we use it," let us be the first to say, "that ain’t happening in the blog-o-sphere, we promise."