How to Crush an Outlaw Biker Club: Seize Its … Logo?

Wasn't there just a story about a high school that banned Canadian Goose jackets because they didn't want the less fortunate to feel bad? It's happening folks, just on a larger scale. At this rate we should remove every logo that has had any negative connotation associated with it. The liberal agenda. Smh.

No, no, no!! These fools are kind enough to LABEL THEMSELVES as the anti-social sleaze they truly are. This is a public service, making it easy for the public to avoid them, and the police to find them. Let them have their logo. "That's them right there, officer." See? Works like a charm.

I'm all for saving the patch and support the right of the club.....But ....some of these Big Clubs go around doing the exact same thing to smaller clubs...taking their club colors and trying to control these smaller clubs... remember we all started small. It's all about Brotherhood and Respect no matter the size of the club or what each club represents.

Speech isn't an *absolute right.* Especially NOT commercial speech. Criminal speech is certainly not *any* sort of right and certainly not an absolute right. Everyone opining on the nature of "Free Speech" appears not to know much about Trademark Law. There is no doubt that these prosecutors are making new law. It will be interesting to see what happens. Today the Mongols... tomorrow, Facebook. Next year, Trump?

What next - will they require them to wear pink underwear? If we don;t like someone we can regulate what they wear or can;t wear?

I'll attribute this story to Hunter S. Thompson's "Hell's Angels" because I can't think where the heck else I would have read it. I'm paraphrasing from memory. A cop pulls a biker over for wearing the Angel's patch. He asks the biker to remove the jacket. The biker complies. Underneath the jacket, the biker is wearing an Angel's t-shirt. The cop asks the biker to remove that too. Underneath the t-shirt, the biker is wearing an Angel's tank top. The cop sighs. He asks the biker to remove that shirt as well. Sure enough, the biker has the same logo tattooed on his back. The biker says "So officer, would you like to take my skin off next?"

Former US Attorney Thomas P. O’Brien: “We were looking for a way to have real impact and we knew this was going to be a test case,” he said." Doesn't sending people to prison have a "real impact"? That quote makes me wonder if there was anyone in O’Brien's office who said: "This is a dumb idea".

Taking away their legal rights to a club's patch may be a small blow to their collective identity, but will not change their fundamental criminal behavior the least. And why would prosecutors want to remove the easiest way for police and citizens to identify criminals?

Seriously?! Can't wait until one of these brainiac prosecutors, if they win, try to enforce it. Good luck with that! If the federal prosecutors in LA don't have anything better to do I'd say the money going to that office could be better spent elsewhere.

After getting cut off by them in the left lane and then subsequently being surrounded and pursued by these biker thugs on the highway... my car full of kids heading to a amusement park, helps to sway my thoughts I must say... You'll get no overreacting about rights from me, that's for sure.

Yep, a total waste of time and money. Too many Federal Prosecutors trying to grab headlines and put notches in their prosecutorial gun handles because they have future political aspirations. Obviously the Feds think they can twist Trademark law very far from it's intended purpose of PROTECTING the owner from counterfeit products and services bearing or using the same logo. Reminds me of the simpleminded Federal Prosecutors that wanted to force Microsoft to include Netscape's internet browser with the Windows OS so Internet Explorer wouldn't be a "monopoly browser". Morons.

The first amendment, is the bedrock of our Bill of Rights and seemingly under perpetual attack from our government. If this attempt is successful, where does it end. What it won’t do is put an end, or much of a dent, to the clubs or their activities.

Being a big believer in Freedom of Speech, I am quite torn between this and the intended goal. Should this seizure end up being sanctioned by the Supreme Court (that's where this is headed), I wonder if it would also be applied to public display of swastikas and related symbols of hate crimes, or not. On the other hand, this government might like to apply it to anti-Trump signs and groups. As it stands, I come down on the side of Freedom of Expression/Speech.

Wow, taxpayers are funding this attempt to shut down a logo.

This quote from Hunter Thompson seems appropriate... “It had been a bad trip ... fast and wild in some moments, slow and dirty in others, but on balance it looked like a bummer. On my way back to San Francisco, I tried to compose a fitting epitaph. I wanted something original, but there was no escaping the echo of Mistah Kurtz' final words from the heart of darkness: "The horror! The horror! ... Exterminate all the brutes!” ― Hunter S. Thompson, Hell's Angels: A Strange and Terrible Saga

It's a terrible precedent. Seizing the clothing that someone is wearing because of intellectual property rights is beyond the pale.

I’m going to start a motorcycle club. The logo will be a burning copy of the Bill Of Rights.

This is more proof we have too many lawyers. Law enforcement should focus on investigating and prosecuting members of criminal groups the old-fashioned way, based on the crimes they commit and the taxes they don't pay. It has worked well against the Mafia, and it can work against the Mongols.

Human behavior is a difficult thing to comprehend, let alone control. Yet one thing is almost certain, if you take something from an aggrieved group, that very thing becomes a rallying cry. I suspect this might happen to the Feds. As we see with almost anything, if you can’t control it, regulate it. Which means charging money for it. States are doing this successfully with marijuana, gambling, and other vices. Since the Mongols and other groups will probably be around for awhile, why not charge them for the privilege? Or at least heavily tax them when they break the law? Taking their identity patch will probably only make things worse.

This is a truly fascinating case. We should not be too quick to take the side of the prosecutors here. The implications of the feds being able to seize trademarks left and right is troubling.

But what does the government do about the tattoos? And what can they do if people continue the (unauthorized) use of the logo? The Court has held that a primary "logo", the American flag, may be burned or otherwise defiled as part of free speech, so even if title to the logo vests in the government, how could they prevent its use as protest speech?

What a complete waste of time and money.