Carson: Prez shouldn't be Muslim; Muslim Congressmen might be ok...

[GMDino]

Carson cares about one thing: Keeping his name out there so he can make some money.

He *might* be delusional enough to think he's qualified to be POTUS...but don't count on it.

http://www.addictinginfo.org/2015/09/18/ben-carson-threatens-his-own-fans-for-making-carson-for-president-shirts-he-doesnt-profit-from/

Quote:Republican presidential candidate Ben Carson’s lawyer has gone after popular merchandise creation site CafePress, because the campaign argues the pro-Ben Carson stuff being sold isn’t directly benefiting Carson. If threatening to sue your own supporters seems like a particularly stupid idea for a presidential candidate, perhaps it tells us more about just what kind of future Carson sees for himself.

Carson, a Tea Party favorite who has watched his poll numbers surge in recent months, may be tipping his hand over just exactly what his campaign has been about all along: Namely, Carson the brand. Like Donald Trump, it’s not hard to imagine Carson getting into the race with almost no hope of actually winning it. And like other candidates before him, it seems entirely possible that his entry was meant to give him media exposure, name recognition, and star power that could eventually be converted into a radio show, a future book deal, or – the Holy Grail of the Republican grift machine – a gig at Fox News.

To maximize his campaign’s profits, his super PAC (Ben Carson PAC) has sent a letter to CafePress demanding that all merchandise related to Carson be immediately pulled or else. On what grounds? According to Carson’s lawyer, just about everything: copyright, trademark, privacy rights. Unfortunately for Carson, none of those actually apply, as CafePress’s legal adviser, Paul Levy, hilariously pointed out in a response captured by Tech Dirt:

The notion that expressing views about Carson’s candidacy violates any of his rights is simply absurd. It is shocking that a lawyer whose web site touts his expertise in intellectual property law would sign his name to such a communication.



At most, the items display the phrase “Ben Carson for President 2016,” often appearing in the patriotic colors of red, white and blue. Many of them simply use Carson’s name, or just his given name or his profession. You cannot use trademark theories to ride roughshod over members of the American public who either share your clients’ views and favor Carson’s candidacy, or for that matter disagree with their views and oppose Carson’s candidacy.

In other words, you can’t sue people just because they like your candidate and want to wear a shirt saying so.

Perhaps anticipating that, Carson’s lawyer also claimed wearing a shirt saying something like “Ben Carson for President 2016” violated the candidate’s privacy. Apparently, Carson is under the impression that you can be a candidate for President of the United States and still expect nobody to talk about you. Rick Santorum’s campaign notwithstanding, public figures should not expect to be absolutely ignored by the people – that comes with the territory of being a public figure.

At issue here is, of course, money. While Carson’s campaign understandably feels that any supporter of Carson should be expected to help his super PAC profit, there are many ways one might see how that is not the case. For a variety of reasons, a person might want a “Carson for President” shirt, but still not feel comfortable actually donating to Carson’s campaign. Recently, for example, a conservative sting operation tried to suggest that a Canadian woman buying a Hillary Clinton campaign shirt meant that Clinton was committing election fraud. (The accusation was so ludicrous that reporters literally laughed in their faces when conservative activists took their “findings” to the press.)

But while that instance was proven to be monumentally idiotic, it is clear that issues over who can donate to a campaign abound. For those outside the United States, buying official merchandise might put you in murky legal waters. There are also just people who prefer to support candidates in other ways besides money. Given the scummy way campaigns often use that money, it’s hard to blame people who feel that way.

So what Carson’s camp really wants is control. They want to hold all power over Carson’s “brand” because when his presidential campaign inevitably peters out, they want to be able to effortlessly pivot to his profit-making schemes. Threatening to sue your own supporters for not handing over their dollars is certainly one way to expedite the process.

Feature image via Gage Skidmore/Flickr