Donald Trump reportedly posted something that creeps up to – and potentially crosses – a legal line for trademark violations.
Trump, who is known for regularly testing the legal limits of his actions as well as gag orders against him, made the post in the course of his defense of his social media site Truth Social. The former president has stuck beside his flailing network since he launched it after being banned from Twitter and other sites.
"We are heading to World War III because of grossly incompetent leadership, headed by a President that doesn't have a clue, although he did have the sense to just join TRUTH, the real VOICE OF AMERICA," the ex-president wrote. "Congratulations Joe, at least, on that!"
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That post could potentially open Trump up to some form of legal liability, according to Politico's senior legal affairs reporter Josh Gerstein.
"Can Trump do anything without crossing or treading right up to a legal line?" Gerstein asked Tuesday. "Maybe he's OK as long as he doesn't fundraise off it or make T-shirts?"
Gerstein then linked to a trademark and copyright law blog post from 2014. The post said the federal government was aggressively pursuing those who infringe upon its "Voice of America" mark.
"VOA didn’t apply to register its name as a federal trademark until 2005, and didn’t get around to registering an internet domain name until after sites such as voiceofamerica.com had already been snapped up by private parties (VOA had to make do with VOANews.com)," the post says.
"But that appeared to change about a decade ago, when administration of VOA was transferred from the U.S. Information Agency to a new autonomous federal entity, the Broadcasting Board of Governors (BBG). BBG began to take steps to protect the VOA brand and, on November 7, 2014, the Eastern District of Louisiana rewarded those efforts by enjoining what was allegedly a forty-five-year infringement of the VOICE OF AMERICA mark."
