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Gypsy & Willy - The Original Libertarian Bloggers

How Can You Laugh at a Time Like This?

Gypsy & Willy

No. 429

Oprah and WW III

August 28, 2006

As regular readers of this column know, we have been pushing a “draft Oprah Winfrey for President” movement for some time. We started this in 1999 and have continued to the present. Last August, we joined forces with a man from Kansas City, MO, named Patrick Crowe, who had conducted a similar campaign…entirely offline…in 2003. He even wrote and published a book concerning his experiences. By starting these campaigns, we all received our “fifteen minutes of fame” because it quickly became obvious that we were hardly alone. In fact, polls…not to mention our real world experiences…showed us that tens of millions of people agreed with us. We also generated considerable interest in all media around the country.

When we got together, we decided that he would continue to work offline and we would take care of the online part of the campaign. He does have a Web site, but in line with our agreement, users who log into that site are immediately redirected to ours.

Recently, Patrick received a letter from the attorneys of A HREF=http://www.referenceforbusiness.com/businesses/G-L/Harpo-Inc.html>Harpo, Inc….a firm that handles Oprah’s business interests…which is almost wholly owned by Oprah. Indeed, “harpo” is “oprah” spelled backward. The letter charged that he…and by inference we…were infringing upon their trademark and copyrights by:

It is true that A HREF=http://www.referenceforbusiness.com/businesses/G-L/Harpo-Inc.html>Harpo has a registered trademark on the word OPRAH. The purpose of this is, and all trademarks, is to prevent others from using this word in their commercial ventures. They have also obtained copyrights to the various images of Oprah, who, like any celebrity, makes her living, at least in part, from these very images.

However, their entire claim is based upon the assertion that we are using this word and her images for COMMERCIAL purposes, citing as “evidence” of this, that Patrick and we are selling the book on our sites. The heart of their trademark infringement case rest upon the premise that people will be confused and think that Oprah and A HREF=http://www.referenceforbusiness.com/businesses/G-L/Harpo-Inc.html>Harpo have approved of our venture.

SAY WHAT?!?! Apparently, these lawyers have never heard of the First Amendment to the U.S. constitution. Also, concerning their trademark, they must be unaware of the lawsuit brought by Fox News against Al Franken. Al used Fox’s trademarked term “Fair and Balanced” in the title of a book, which was, of course, a political parody of that very term and Fox’s use of it. Fox’s lawyers were literally laughed out of court, the proceedings taking on the overtones of a comedy routine on Saturday Night Live.

In addition, courts have extensively ruled that using copyrighted material for political purposes is “fair use.”

Finally, there is the issue of trademark confusion. Not only do we state prominently and often on our site that we are attempting to convince her to change her mind about running…she said in 1999, in 2003 and as recently as last December that she would “never, never run for elective office.”…but when the small minority of our volunteers do express such confusion, we are quick to remind them that we are trying to “draft” her…to convince her to run…not running a campaign to get her elected. First things first.

So what is going on?

Conspiracy theorists might propose that Oprah herself has decided to use a “back door” approach to getting us to cease and desist in our efforts, that she is using the law to get us to stop trying to convince her to run.

A more likely scenario, in our minds, is that her lawyers are acting in a “routine” manner simply doing their job in protecting her intellectual property rights. But, can’t they read? Or, maybe they simply don’t read. Somebody obviously did some research, but it appears they merely entered the word “oprah” into a search engine and sent out a form letter to whoever MIGHT be stepping on their legal toes.

Even casual readership of Patrick’s book and our sites would convince the reader that we were sincere in our purely political motives. We have stated loudly and frequently that we believe that the direction in which our great nation is heading must somehow be reversed and a person of Oprah’s enormous fame, recognition and reputation for good works is probably the only way to get it done.

Besides, it strikes us that taking on such a difficult role at this time in history is her destiny. So far, she does not agree. But maybe, just maybe, if millions of us get together and speak in unison…she will see the light.

In any case, it is our right, if not our duty as citizens of the U.S.A., to do what we are doing. We will ignore Harpo’s lawyers and defy any court order they might obtain…after all they DO have a great deal of money and influence…to attempt to get us to do otherwise.

If you support us in this effort, our site will tell you what to do about it.

Talk to you later...

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To contact Willy or Gypsy and comment on what they have written...or anything else...write to willy@dreamagic.com or gypsy@dreamagic.com.

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