T-Zone Favorite Anti-GOP Gear from Cafepress

TZone — Mon, 21 Jul 2008 12:15:36 +0000

T-Zone is on the hunt for Anti-GOP gear!

Especially if this is in rebuttal to the recent call for C&D from the RNC- We are showing the GOP just how clever Cafepress Shopkeepers can be!

The artists at Cafepress are getting very creative in the way they are having their voice heard on the issue at hand – from having a new GOP Elephant Logo showing the rear of the elephant with the ‘O’ in GOP strategically placed under the animal’s tail, while another shopkeeper replaces the republican acronym GOP (Grand Old Party) with the New (Grievous Oppressor of the People). One shop has created a new Men’s Room sign for their Anti-political t-shirts showing “MEN” on

one side and a “glory hole” on the other with “GOP” beneath it. We also liked this cap showing the ’08 political theory that ‘Either way- We’re F*cked”. The controversy centered on the RNC (Republican National Committee) attempt to throw a cease and desist order on Cafepress shops using the Republican elephant and/or the acronym GOP on their t-shirts, caps and stickers spawned one shop to create a new Republican elephant crossed arms and angry painted red white and blue with the sentiment ” No Elephant Shirts Allowed- RIP GOP”. A parody on the Big Bopper title using the Big GOPper, “We didn’t like your Freakin’ logo anyway” shows the old elephant obviously blown up to smithereens.

The GOP Meltdown shop portrays the end of the use of the GOP acronym and use of the Republican elephant- “so we melted it down” claims the shop with this unique melted GOP logo and elephant. This is one of our favorites as it shows the GOP melted in the puddle of the melted elephant and the word Meltdown under it. Clever. We thought the Meltdown thong would be cool to show for obvious reasons but you can get all of these designs on t-shirts, cups and mugs, stickers, buttons, hoodies, clocks, throw pillows, aprons, and even kids and dog tees. If you have a cool Anti GOP shop or design, reply to this post and let us know- we are continuing our search for cool ANTI GOP gear from Cafepress.

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GOP Threatening Cafepress Lawsuit against using the Red White and Blue Pachyderm

TZone — Fri, 18 Jul 2008 03:29:16 +0000

Everyone is Sue Happy this year including the GOP

According to Common Dreams NewsCenter “CafePress made several attempts to reach out to the RNC’s counsel to raise some of these issues and to determine whether the RNC has any legitimate concerns that can be accommodated while respecting the free speech rights of CafePress users. Time after time, the RNC refused to talk and its only response to CafePress’ efforts was to reiterate its demands and threaten treble damages. It appeared that this dispute was headed for the courts.”

Can the RNC forbid the use of an elephant or “GOP” to identify Republicans?

According to Consumer Law and Policy Blog

“Although these references have been in popular use since the 1870′s, and owe more to Thomas Nast than to the Republicans themselves, back in the 1997 and 1995, respectively, the RNC trademarked the initials “GOP” and a stylized elephant showing three stars across its body. Relying on these trademarks, the RNC has been trying to suppress the use of the initials or an elephant to refer to Republicans generally, such as in the images that appear above and on the left.”

Furthermore: According to Ben Smith’s Politco

“Don’t mess with their elephant.

Or at least, don’t infringe on what the Republican National Committee refers to as the “Official Elephant Logo (Federal Trademark Registration 1908397).” The phrase appears in a letter demanding that a Web-based T-shirt company “cease and desist” from putting a version of the iconic Republican symbol on shirts and other merchandise.

The demands from the RNC to the California-based CafePress.com put the committee at the intersection of political speech and trademark law, legal experts said. The company is refusing to comply with the letter, despite a second letter from the committee referring to “further action” and possible damages.

“If you want to say ‘GOP’ and design an elephant that’s similar, want to design an elephant that’s not precisely the same as ours, that’s fine,” RNC chief counsel Sean Cairncross told Politico. “Our elephant is specific. It’s stylized, it’s blue and red, it has three stars across its back that are tilted. They’re using that precise elephant.”

Well this will be interesting to say the least as many of the money making shops at Cafepress are political shops- This will certainly put a crunch in their style- And quite probably remove them from the GOP voting choice.