Articles by Jim Harper 
Jim is the Director of Information Policy Studies at The Cato Institute, the Editor of Web-based privacy think-tank Privacilla.org, and the Webmaster of WashingtonWatch.com. Prior to becoming a policy analyst, Jim served as counsel to committees in both the House and Senate.
I’ve gotten an unusually strong reaction to a TechKnowledge piece that went out today describing how the Nordstrom retail chain is capitalizing on a Patent and Trademark Office error to throw a small business under the bus.
Beckons is an organic yoga and lifestyle clothing business that Nordstrom is trying to force off of a trademark – or out of business. It’s owned by two businesswomen in Colorado who have done everything right to get a trademark, but now may have tens of thousands of dollars in legal bills to defend it. The short article is called U.S. Patent and Trademark Office: FAIL.
I wrote about it because I think it’s an outrage. People have written to me since I published it asking what they can do.
Well, there are a couple of things. The original error is with the PTO, so you can send a copy of the story or a link to your Member of Congress. The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office is within the jurisdiciation of the House and Senate Judiciary Committees.
But it’s Nordstrom that has really taken advantage of things. And you don’t have to beg for a politician’s help to bring companies to heel. Here’s a four-step plan for helping Beckons beat Goliath. Do one or all of the items listed below.
- Send this page to all your friends. That’s probably the most important thing, because the more people doing the other things on this list, the better.
- Write a letter to Nordstrom, telling them that you disapprove of their abuse of the trademark process, and that you won’t be shopping there until they mend their ways. Here’s the address for the president of the company.
Blake W. Nordstrom, President
Nordstrom, Inc.
1700 Seventh Avenue, Suite 300
Seattle, WA 98101
- Print this page, copy it, and hand it out at Nordstrom. Or slip copies into the purses they sell – especially any with the “Beckon” label!
- If you do yoga, or know anybody who does, shop at Beckons! (Be sure to send this along to friends who do yoga.)
So those are just a few ideas for getting Nordstrom to correct its abuse of the trademark process against this small business. Please feel free to put additional ideas or report on your successes in the comments. (Got a sample letter to Nordstrom, for example?)
A well-functioning marketplace requires assertive consumers – so assert yourself!
In discussions about data-intensive government programs like watchlists, people often talk about the importance of “redress” – giving the public some way to correct information or dispute adverse decisions arising from these programs.
“Redress” is a misnomer that diminishes the importance of the subject at hand. Constitutional Due Process is what’s at stake. So says the Ninth Circuit in the case of Humphries v. County of Los Angeles.
I hate the term “cloud computing” because it denies the duties and responsibilities of network operators and software and database managers.
It’s like a George Carlin bit: “I didn’t breach the data. The cloud did it! It was out in the cloud! How did the government get my private data? It got it from the cloud. The cloud gave the government the data . . . .”
I’m pleased and humbled to have been named one of the Ars Technica/Tech Policy Central “People to Watch” in 2009. Along with my opposition to the REAL ID national identification scheme, they cite my work opposing the E-Verify national worker background check system (which would ultimately require a national ID).
Considering how the economic stimulus bill may be a vehicle for mandating broader use of E-Verify, the first thing you might see from watching me in 2009 might be an angry and disappointed advocate for liberty.
Here’s a screen grab of the Whitehouse.gov five-day review page. I figured I should preserve it because it is not likely to be on the site for long. President Obama just signed his second piece of legislation into law, and it didn’t get the five-day review either.
Here’s what that page says:
FIVE DAY REVIEW
President Obama wants you to get involved in the legislative process.
The Obama-Biden Administration is committed to bringing new levels of openness, transparency, and participation to our government. That’s why the President has pledged to post all nonemergency bills that come before his desk on WhiteHouse.gov for five days, where members of the public will be able to read, review, and comment before he takes any action on them.
There is currently no legislation awaiting the President’s signature. We hope you’ll come back to this page frequently, and share your input on the important legislation that will affect you, your community, and the nation in the years to come.
In the meantime, please use the form below to share your ideas on any issue that matters to you.
Uh, yeah, there’s no legislation awaiting the President’s signature because he signed it right away!
I wrote more about this step away from transparency here.
The DHS Privacy Committee meets at 1:00 p.m. (Eastern) today, via telephone, and you can listen in! From the Federal Register notice:
Members of the public are welcome to listen to the meeting by calling (800) 320-4330 and entering Pin Number 215132. The number of teleconference lines is limited, however, and lines will be available on a first-come, first-served basis.
The Technology Liberation Front is the tech policy blog dedicated to keeping politicians' hands off the 'net and everything else related to technology.
