Occupy is one year old. Is the patent approved yet?

During the course of work I found something I thought was interesting about OWS, and I didn't find any mention of this particular angle of it here. I used the search term “Occupy Wall Street Patents” and came up empty handed on this topic. This may be old news, but apparently it's new here.

Apparently, some people have taken the initiative to apply for patents for the slogan “Occupy Wall Street” to use as slogans found on clothing, backpacks, etc.... as well as for entertainment purposes.

From the below article:

Social Movements Which is a Consequence of the global Economic Crisis is "Occupy Wall Street " Which Started in New York and soon spread across the US and worldwide. The name of this Movement , however, Can Become a trademark After Two EnterprisingAmericans for APPLIED a mark "Occupy Wall St." in the US Patent Office.The mark is APPLIED for classes 16, 18 and 25. These Two Americans Are members of this protest Movement That stands Against the big corporations , Which Are blamed for the current World Crisis. This Case, however, That confirms the US is a country of unlimited Opportunities After the Fact That the Crisis itself May Become a Generator of Financial revenues.

Sorry for the choppy English. It's a Bulgerian translation.

intellectualpropertyplanet.blogspot.com...

Here's something more English friendly:

www.cbsnews.com...

www.patentsonline.com.au...

These are the 2 active applications:

tess2.uspto.gov...:m5no4b.2.1

tess2.uspto.gov...:m5no4b.2.2

About the applicants:

www.ipbrief.net...

Now, while I'm all for seizing an opportunity, this smacks of hypocracy on the part of the people who claim to be part of this movement to stop unfair capitalism while wanting to capitalize on it.. They're wanting to become more of a part of a structure that they claim is not beneficial to America's financial well-being. Except for Ferraro of course. He is of the 1%. It seems to me that, all along, they weren't really interested in changing the system as much as they were interested in becoming more a part of it. They don't think the system is broken as much as they seem to be jealous of the people who have more than them.

I understand that the people filing for the patents are a VAST minority within the movement itself, but you have to wonder if NO ONE in the movement is aware of this, and if they are, why are they turning a blind eye to it and not boycotting those who want to turn a profit from it all? Do they really need this slogan plastered all over everything with all the media attention they get? Makes you wonder how many people in the movement would have done the same.

Now remember, OWS started taking off in September of last year. The 17th to be exact. I'm not going to give it away, but check the links and notice the registration date for these applications. Maybe this is why no one really understood the true purpose of OWS. They were looking for answers on top of the ethical mountain, when the answer was down here all along.

From the below article:

Occupy is pure democracy. Occupy is the power of numbers and it is the power of the majority. It is the power of history. This weekend in New York City we must celebrate how far we have come in such a short period of time, and steel ourselves for becoming the leaders, perhaps the example, for Americans to follow in the emerging struggle. Occupy is US. Occupy welcomes all. In New York City this weekend let US celebrate what WE have accomplished.

www.opednews.com...

So what is OWS? A movement or a VERY ingenious marketing campaign? If it's a movement, well, I still don't see it going anywhere. The application for the patent is doing more than the movement itself. (You gotta love the legalities. They always set things right) I was hoping that at least the applicants from New York were on the up and up, but they withdrew their application. The one's from Arizona? They were never part of the “99%” to begin with and if I had the time, I'd check to see if Ferraro's wife is even legal to be in this country.

But I have to get back to work.

What do you guys think? Is it something that needs to be questioned or am I making too much of it?

reply to post by InTheShadows

Is it something that needs to be questioned or am I making too much of it?

Both. Everything in our reality needs to be questioned. But yeah, I do think you are making too much out of this. OWS, at the start, was merely a loose collection of people with various complaints and issues, there was no real structure, no single voice. As time went on, and it failed to do anything tangible, it became a product.

ows, 99%, these are catch phrases.

As well.... the core of the people aren't against "capitalism". Yes, there are marxist and communist groups that latched onto the movement. The same can be said for some of the groups that attempted to affiliate themselves with the Tea Party.

The original issue that brought these people together was the unfair system to which we are shackled. It's not anti capitalist at all. Demanding, or expecting, that the bankers and movers and shakers be held accountable to the same laws as we are just makes sense.

Here's a good example of what I think is wrong, and why I would have supported OWS. I guess in a way I did, but it's hard to narrow that down with so many separate voices yelling about different issues.

Anyways...... Tommy Chong. Yes, that Tommy Chong. The US justice department entrapped his company, that was making and selling water pipes (which are legal in all but a few states) over the course of a few months and convinced them to ship some pipes to I believe Pennsylvania, where the sale of "paraphernalia" is illegal. They diverted resources and man power, I think the total was 200+ agents involved? Tommy Chong went to jail for 9 months for owning a company that sold a legal product, but his employee shipped it to the wrong state.

How many of the bankers who, through fraud, destroyed the world economy, have gone to jail.... None? One?

I'm not about redistribution of wealth. I'm not looking for a hand out. I just expect the laws to apply to everyone equally regardless of their current bank balance. Sadly, the system doesn't work that way.

The top 5% of wealthy people in the US have seen their tax rates go down, tax breaks come along, and IRS audits all but disappear. Instead, the bottom 95% pay higher taxes, and have enjoyed a massive increase in IRS audits.

If I commit fraud and get caught, i go to jail. If I steal 100$ I go to jail. If a banker, or a corporate executive, steals a few million? Nadda.

Look at the bank bailouts for example, something the majority of Americans did not support. American tax dollars when straight to the banks, to cover their losses and risk investments built on a house of cards that relies on fraud on a massive scale. The deal was, you, the US tax payer foot the bill, so the banks could ease lending restrictions and help the economy to get back on it's feet.

Instead, the banks gave their executives massive bonuses, and simply refused to end lending restrictions. Whats more, they refuse to pay the bailout back, and thanks to your completely un-corruptible government, no one actually knows where all these bailouts went!

How can this not make you a little angry. The US infrastructure is failing, cities are falling apart, some places have gone back to unpaved roads, some places have 1, ONE police car for the entire area. But the banks? Oh, you bet your butt they are doing just fine, those that didn't completely fail based on their fraudulent activities.

Elements of OWS attempted to address these issues, but through media manipulation, and the fragmented nature of the group, most of this was lost in translation.

At this point, talking about OWS is beating a dead horse. I'm interested to see why you dragged this back out of the trash at this point. Of course people are trying to capitalize on it.

But here's the thing, this group decided to align itself under the OWS banner, so attempting to trademark the term makes sense for a few reasons.

No movement can survive without funds, so if they are able to sell t-shirts or what not, good on them, hopefully the money taken in will be put to good use lobbying government. As well, once a slogan or logo is trademarked, people can't use it willy nilly. don't think for a second that from day one elements haven't been trying to paint OWS in a negative light.

All you need do is search this site for OWS threads, you'll see what I'm talking about.

200,000 people rally to fight the unfair and unjust business practices taking place. 4 people trash a star bucks. Who do you hear about? 4 people trashing a star bucks.

Originally posted by phishyblankwaters

I'm interested to see why you dragged this back out of the trash at this point.

They're going to be "celebrating" the one year anniversary this weekend in NYC. It would've been drug out with or without this post.

I just thought the whole thing was hypocritical. I understand that movements like this need money, but the type of movement that it is seems to make marketing it counter-intuitive somehow.

Personally, I don't see it going anywhere if it remains in the public view as much as it was, and if it doesn't have any cohesiveness and true goal. If it does, and I'm sure it does at this point, they need to keep it low key. Nothing good seems to ever come out of shouting things from the rooftops, and I don't see how marketing the slogan is going to help because in the end, most of the buyers are going to be within the movement itself. If converts were buying the product that would be one thing. Gaining steam from the outside would be beneficial all the way around, but I don't see that happening.

Thanks for your input.