Man sues DHS, NSA for the right to parody them on mugs,

[Fantastic Anarchist]

LAW & DISORDER / CIVILIZATION & DISCONTENTS



Man sues DHS, NSA for the right to parody them on mugs, T-shirts

For 10 years, a Minnesota man has been selling T-shirts, mugs, and other items with slogans like “Department of Homeland Stupidity” and “The NSA: the only part of the government that listens.”

In 2011, the Department of Homeland Security and the National Security Agency sent a cease-and-desist order against Zazzle, the original manufacturer of these items for the website LibertyManiacs.com. The government agencies argued that it is a crime to use, mutilate, or alter a government seal without permission. (The site has now switched over to CafePress.)

On Tuesday LibertyManiacs owner Dan McCall sued those agencies, arguing that he has a First Amendment right to parody the DHS, the NSA, and other government offices, and that he should be allowed to use the relevant seals.

“The agencies’ attempts to forbid McCall from displaying and selling his merchandise are inconsistent with the First Amendment,” said Paul Alan Levy, the Public Citizen attorney handling the case, in a statement. “It’s bad enough that these agencies have us under constant surveillance; forbidding citizens from criticizing them is beyond the pale.”

Levy is a well-known, high-profile First Amendment lawyer, having recently defended a California man who maintained a website satirizing embattled Arizona lawyer Charles Carreon.

Public Citizen is representing McCall in his suit against those government agencies, and it is asking a federal court to declare that these federal laws are unconstitutional on the grounds that they violate the First Amendment.

Neither the DHS nor the NSA responded to Ars’ request for comment.

[Downwinder]

1. Can the Government hold a Trademark or Copyright?