I’ve seen some political groups made up of traditional Republican voters who will be voting for the Democratic candidate, such as “Republicans for Harris” and “Haley Voters for Harris”. Trump recently reposted some images about “Swifties for Trump”. Are political groups allowed to use names of entities like that if they don’t have permission from that entity? Assume that the group is sincere and not just doing it for a prank. Like with these groups, certainly there are some Republican and Haley supporters who will be voting for Harris, and some Swift fans who will be voting for Trump. Could the Republican party, Nikki Haley, and Taylor Swift force these groups to change their names?
I would think that Haley and Swift could get their names removed from such organizations. Swift also could (and should) insist that Trump stop claiming that she has endorsed him for POTUS. Both of these women are real people who have professional reputations that could reasonably be harmed by these false associations.
This is why IP attorneys make a lot of money.
I don’t believe that “Republican” is trademarked and even if it were, they would have long since lost it due to not protecting it. The difference is with Taylor Swift and her rights to her name re: promotion EXCEPT a “Swiftie” is not Taylor Swift. I’m sure any judge would rule it is a generic term for her fans so does anyone own the trademark for “swiftie”? Or is it generic enough given usage that there is no enforcable trademark (like kleenex). Similarly with Haley. They are not saying Nikki Haley s endorsing Trump, just that her voters are.
I know that “Swiftie” is trademarked by Taylor Swift. But perhaps there could be groups that use her name similar to Haley, like “Swift fans for Harris” .