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Law Enforcement Seizes Biker Gang IP?

By Posted by Alan Wexelblat

I'm tempted to file this under "weird IP stories you don't expect to read" but I don't have a category for that.

Buried at the very bottom of the AP story on the Feds busting up the Mongols biker gang appear the following paragraphs:

U.S. Attorney Thomas O'Brien has asked for an injunction that would seize the Mongols' trademarked name. If the order is approved, any Mongol would no longer be able to wear a jacket displaying the gang's name or emblem.

"It would allow law enforcement to seize the leather jackets right off their back," O'Brien said.

I suppose, in the sense that a trademarked logo is a tangible asset with some value, it could be seized in a law enforcement action. But, really, do you want to be the guy assigned to take a biker gang member's jacket off his back?

Full post as published by Copyfight - The Politics of IP on October 22, 2008 (boomark / email).