Nearly two months after a federal jury decided that a notorious motorcycle club must forfeit the rights to its trademarked emblem, a judge on Thursday nullified the verdict, finding that seizure of the intellectual property was unconstitutional.That may be the first echo of the recent unanimous SCOTUS decision barring excessive civil asset forfeiture schemes. The First Amendment grounds were expected, but that application of the Eighth is new. This effort to prosecute the club at the club level was more successful than some previous efforts, however, as several individuals were convicted of specific crimes. Those convictions were upheld.
In a 51-page ruling, Federal District Judge David O. Carter said the government’s strategy of trying to devastate the Mongols motorcycle club by confiscating its treasured Genghis Khan-style logo would violate the group’s First Amendment right to free speech and the excessive fines clause of the Eighth Amendment.
Mongols MC Keeps Patch
A Federal judge has ruled that the government's attempt to force the motorcycle club to stop wearing its trademark is unconstitutional under two separate amendments.
Ok, give the Feds points for creativity.
ReplyDeleteThen, require them to prosecute people for committing crimes, not for creating intellectual property.
Valerie
It'd be nice too if they could be convinced to focus on crimes already committed, rather than trying to create crimes.
ReplyDeleteThe clubs are lucky they didn't get to become Waco 3...
ReplyDeleteOne of the risks of dealing with the feds as a motorcycle club is that you either become the dogs of the state or you get euthanized when they feel like it. When both happens in short sequence... I would say you all got the wrong Deal.