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Sarah Palin Trademark? Not So Fast

Callie Schweitzer |
February 4, 2011 | 2:12 p.m. PST

Editor-in-Chief

(Creative Commons)
(Creative Commons)
There's still time to profit from the Palin name and brand.

Sarah Palin is fit to be tabloid fodder this week--likely in a category called, "Former Alaska governors and one-time vice presidential candidates are just like us! They forget to sign important documents." 

Politics Daily reports that Palin family lawyer Thomas Van Flein filed applications to the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office to trademark "Sarah Palin®" and "Bristol Palin®" late last year.

The elder Palin's trademark was filed Nov. 5, three days after the 2010 miterm elections, while Bristol's was filed Sept. 15, five days before her debut on ABC's "Dancing With The Stars."

But the Palins have hit a snag in the application process because the forms were not signed.

"Registration is refused because the applied-for mark, SARAH PALIN, consists of a name identifying a particular living individual whose consent to register the mark is not of record," according to the patent and trademark office. "Please note this refusal will be withdrawn if applicant provides written consent from the individual identified in the applied-for mark."

In other words, the application appears to be missing Sarah Palin's signature--or written consent--for the trademark.

The status of the trademark is now pending, and Palin and her lawyer have six months to respond.

Attorney John Tiemessen told Reuters that they were "working on it."

The New York Daily News reports:

The former governor's name is registered under goods and services, a category that includes information about political elections, educational and entertainment services. Her daughter's trademark is under educational and entertainment services, namely providing motivational-speaking services in the field of life choices, the website said.

Other Palin trademark applications on record include "Democrats for Palin/Bachmann in 2012," "Sarah Palin's going rogue rogue," "Puck you Palin," "Palin not Stalin" and "Beware of Palin."

As always, Palin has her supporters and her critics.

Former President Ronald Reagan's son had some choice words for her this week when he told the Associated Press, "Sarah Palin is a soap opera, basically. She's doing mostly what she does to make money and keep her name in the news...She is not a serious candidate for president and never has been."

Making the media rounds Tuesday, former Republican Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney supported Palin's potential bid for the GOP's 2012 presidential nomination.

"I believe she is an extraordinarily powerful and effective voice in our party, that she has generated a great deal of support and attention, that she'd be great in a primary process," he said on CNN's "Piers Morgan Tonight." "She'd bring attention to the process, and frankly, the more people we have on the stage in those debates talking about different ideas and different approaches, the better."

Palin has spent a lot of time in the public eye recently in light of a Jan. 8 shooting rampage in Tucson, Ariz. that left six dead and 13 wounded including Rep. Gabrielle Giffords (D-AZ), who was shot in the head at the "Congress on Your Corner" event she was hosting at a local Safeway.

"Following the shootings critics suggested Palin's at-times charged political rhetoric and use of a graphic featuring crosshairs may have contributed to the shooter's motivations," CNN reports. "The graphic was part of a website that Palin put up last year, during the divisive debate over health care reform, to highlight 20 congressional districts won by Sen. John McCain in the 2008 presidential election, where Democratic representatives were voting in favor of the legislation."

A CNN/Opinion Research Corporation survey released Jan. 19 shows 56 percent of all Americans have an unfavorable view of Sarah Palin--up seven points from just before the November midterm elections. This 56 percent is a record high in disapproval ratings for the former Alaska governor and 2008 vice presidential candidate.

 

To reach editor-in-chief Callie Schweitzer, click here.
To follow her on Twitter: @cschweitz
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