I'm not sure what channel the TV was on, because I was on the computer, didn't have the one beside me on, and so was listening to the one in the livingroom. I'd bet money that it was on ABC though.
They're trying to make it sound as though McCain is violating Obama's intellectual property rights. They EVEN asked "who owns" the word change. They would rather make this latest fight into a bogus intellectual property rights case than what it really is: McCain calling Obama out on his empty promises of "Hope and Change". That way, they hope to make McCain back away from comparing HIS vision of change to Obama's.
The comparison their seperate ideas of change is a winner for McCain because Obama never backs his promises with any proposals (except to increase taxes), while McCain does. I HOPE he doesn't back down.
In 1996 the DBM watched {no, cheered} in thrilled amazement, as Bill Clinton climbed out of the abyss of political disaster by stealing a host of Republican issues.
I know a little about IP law (probably just enough to be ‘dangerous’ - grin). If NObama didn’t register a trademark for ‘Hope and Change’ as a tagline or logo, etc., I don’t believe he has any IP claim. And, because they’re generic words, I don’t believe they could be TM’d. Some might consider them descriptive words - for TM registration they would have to have acquired distinctiveness because they were used exclusively by his campaign for a long period of time, which isn’t the case, so I don’t think he could register a TM. Plus, TM registration takes about 1-2 years. I also don’t think those 2 words would be sufficient to be considered copyrightable material. Just my $.02 - all of this would need to be confirmed by an attorney who is an expert on IP law.
Wonder if the IP owners of Bob the Builder - can we build it - ‘Yes we Can’ and/or by the copyright owner, Allen Toussaint - 1970, of the song, ‘Yes We Can’ mind Obambi using those words.