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Trayvon Martin, Inc.

Mother exploits dead son: The mother of Trayvon Martin has filed two applications to secure trademarks containing her late son’s name, records show. Sabrina Fulton is seeking marks for the phrases “I Am Trayvon”and “Justice for Trayvon,”according to filings made last week with the United States Patent and Trademark Office. In both instances, Fulton is seeking the […]

Mother exploits dead son:

The mother of Trayvon Martin has filed two applications to secure trademarks containing her late son’s name, records show.

Sabrina Fulton is seeking marks for the phrases “I Am Trayvon”and “Justice for Trayvon,”according to filings made last week with the United States Patent and Trademark Office. In both instances, Fulton is seeking the trademarks for use on “Digital materials, namely, CDs and DVDs featuring Trayvon Martin,” and other products.

The March 21 USPTO applications, each of which cost $325, were filed by an Orlando, Florida law firm representing Fulton.

Disgusting. The poor kid has been in the ground not even a month, and his mother is trademarking his name for commercial use. Enjoy your profits, ma’am, and your time with your new BFFs, professional race hustlers Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson. You have just alienated a lot of sympathetic people.

UPDATE: What do you know, I’m watching ABC News, and masses of people marching in Sanford, Fla., many of them wearing t-shirts and carrying signs saying, “I Am Trayvon” and “Justice for Trayvon.” Hmm. Is she trying to protect her son’s reputation from hustlers, or exploit his name and the controversy? The trademark application indicates an intention to commercially use the name, but only in DVDs, audio, and video. Not apparel. What’s going on here?

UPDATE.2: This, of course, has nothing at all to do with whether or not Trayvon Martin was murdered by George Zimmerman. Just to make that clear.

UPDATE.3: A commenter says, so what, doesn’t Martin Luther King Jr.’s family do the same thing? Yeah, they do. How’s that look? From Black America Web:

Some children inherit global companies, real estate developments, or millions of dollars worth of stock when a parent dies. The children of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. have inherited something that may prove to be more valuable: The rights to their father’s “intellectual property,” his speeches in written and audio form and the use of his image.

The King children are known as aggressive managers of their father’s intellectual property. In legal terms, “intellectual property” means basically, products of human intelligence and creativity. In the case of King, this includes the use of his words in written and audio format.

The Martin Luther King Memorial Foundation was forced to halt fundraising for the new monument because an organization operated by the Kings demanded a licensing fee to use Dr. King’s name and likeness in marketing campaigns. Eventually, the foundation paid the organization an $800,000 licensing fee. The King estate released a statement saying the licensing agreement benefited the King Center, not the Nobel Peace Prize winner’s heirs.

Although they have the legal right to their father’s intellectual property, some cultural analysts, historians and legal experts have criticized the King children for the choices they have made in selling the use of their father’s words and likeness.

Keep it classy, King family!

UPDATE.4: A reader points out that the King family just took a black Mississippi TV anchor to court to try to recover papers that the man’s mother, who had been a secretary to Dr. King, had in her possession. The judge threw the lawsuit against Howard Ballou out the other day. More:

“I’m very pleased that the judge saw how incredibly frivolous and ridiculous this lawsuit was. My mother and father and Dr. and Mrs. King were very, very close friends, and I resent how the estate tried to, for lack of a better term, besmirch my mother’s character,” Ballou said Friday. “She risked her life like so many others so we could have the rights we have today. It saddens me that one of America’s greatest heroes, my personal hero, Dr. Martin Luther King, is being tarnished by this type of behavior.”

UPDATE.5: Roberto writes:

With all due respect, Rod, you are on the verge of repeating your Aliyah mistake. I say “mistake” because you recently expressed regret for how you inserted yourself into someone else’s response to a loved one’s death.

You may want to consider the possibility that you are responding not-so-much to the family’s actions but to the presence of your old antagonists Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson.

Something to think about before you say something you may regret later.

A fair point, and I thank Roberto for making it. I was wrong to have written critically of the pop star’s funeral. It was disrespectful, cruel, and unnecessary. I apologized for it, and meant that apology. I think the difference here may be how quickly this Trayvon Martin thing is becoming a cultural event, and how people appear to be starting to benefit from the kid’s killing. I have said that it seems to me that George Zimmerman killed Martin without just cause, and the local authorities did a slipshod investigation. It seems likely that racism was involved here. I don’t know that for a fact, but the facts as we know them look bad. I am glad that the feds are now involved. You are right, Roberto, that I cannot stand seeing those race pimps Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton getting involved. They taint everything they touch. But their involvement does not change the fact that it looks like a great injustice was done to Trayvon Martin, and we need to get to the bottom of it. Still, it looks like the important and necessary cause of seeking justice for Martin — if indeed he was treated unjustly, as I believe he was — is already falling prey to low motives and exploitation. I reacted strongly to Trayvon’s mother trademarking her son’s name via that slogan because it appeared to me that she was trying to make a dime off his murder.

I could be wrong about this. If so, I will apologize for suspecting the worst from her. I am suspicious of the spectacle swirling around the Martin case, and how it makes it harder to get to the truth of what really happened, and what it means.

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