Litigation

Citizens United Miffed at Same-Name Protestors

By Peter Hardin

Citizens United, the nonprofit group that won a landmark victory in a recent Supreme Court decision, isn’t chuckling about a Wisconsin watchdog group’s use of its name in a campaign to overturn the court ruling.

According to an Associated Press article, Citizens United asked Wisconsin Democracy Campaign, a partner group of the Justice at Stake Campaign, to cease borrowing its name for a campaign called “Citizens United Against Citizens United.” The usage infringes on its trademarks, the protesting group said.

Mike McCabe of Wisconsin Democracy Campaign told AP it was ironic that Citizens United would try to stifle free speech. In the Citizens United ruling, the high court ruled on free-speech grounds that corporations may spend freely on independent advertising to support or oppose candidates for election.

McCabe said his group’s online petition and Facebook group protest the court’s decision.

Full post as published by The Gavel on March 16, 2010 (boomark / email).