This must be said…
Thursday, March 2nd, 2006The actor Damon Wayans has been engaged in a 14-month fight to trademark the term “Nigga” for a clothing line and retail store, a search of the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office’s online database reveals.
Wayans wants to dress customers in 14 kinds of attire from tops to bottoms, and use the controversial mark on “clothing, books, music and general merchandise,” as well as movies, TV and the Internet, according to his applications.
But, so far, his applications have been unsuccessful. Trademark examiner Kelly Boulton rejected the registration dated Dec. 22, citing a law that prohibits marks that are “immoral or scandalous.” A previous attempt by Wayans was turned down on identical grounds six months earlier.
The trademarking of “common” words and phrases to me is kinda controversial. I know some people gain the rights of some works of some of the more controversial Intellectual Property for the purpose of keeping them from the general public. I had heard that Bill Cosby had acquired the rights to “The Little Rascals”simply so that “Buck Wheat” would never see the light of day again. I Don’t know how true that is especially since I saw a “Little Rascals” DVD for sale at Walmart for a $1. But the trademarking of “Nigga” just so YOU were the only one who could put it on a T-Shirt, that’s just sick.
We have all heard the pro-Nigga arguments. “Black people use it as a term of endearment. ” “It was more about the intellect and attitude of a person than about identifying someones race.” Those arguments hold a kernel of truth. The the overuse of this word. Destroys something. It destroys the historical context that gave birth to the word. That is the thing about words. The more they are used the more connotations and denotations can be attached. And without relevant historical contexts we in the present will not understand what is meant by something written in the past. This word believe it or not, must be preserved. Not as a living word that is used therefore changed of time but so that for ALL TIME the context is static, and constant. So that after a century, or two when the N-Bomb is dropped, it caries sufficient reverence, not for the word but for the tragic history that gave rise to this word, the indignity that it represents and the indignation that it ensues.
Dap: Black Informant
see also: Avery USPTO
