T-shirt Designers Respond to the Republican Threat to Sue Over Use of GOP Elephant

PRLog (Press Release) - Jul 19, 2008 -
The Republican National Committee has threatened to sue online t-shirt company Cafepress for allowing its content providers to create and sell t-shirts, stickers, buttons, mugs, and other paraphenalia containing the image of the GOP elephant.  The RNC trademarked the acronym "GOP" in 1997 and the red, white and blue elephant with three stars across its body in 1995.  Those Republican Party references have been in popular use since the 1800s, in various forms.  

Artists who sell their designs at Cafepress have responded with t-shirts that are humorous, satirical, ironic.  Scarebaby Design (www.cafepress.com/scarebaby), a large online shop with a liberal bent, has created a design that simply states BAN SATIRE in large black letters.  The URL for that design is at http://www.cafepress.com/scarebaby/5782131 .

"I wanted to add the words 'brought to you by the GOP' with an elephant logo", says artist Holly Hertzel.   "It would have been a more self-explanatory message. But as a small independent artist, I can't afford to fight the GOP in court, even though I strongly believe in the protections of parody and satire."

Other t-shirts satirizing the issue include one that features a "Do It Yourself" Republican t-shirt at http://www.cafepress.com/diyrepublican , showing a disassembled elephant, and described as being "for everyone who wants a Republican t-shirt, but doesn't want the RNC chasing them down for "trademark infringement", and one with a black and white elephant and the words "FREE THE ELEPHANT" at http://www.cafepress.com/freetheelephant .

Photo:
http://www.prlog.org/10091188/1