When Eric Garner of New York died in July after being placed in a chokehold by police, he never could have imagined that his last words would end up being a marketed phrase.
I Can’t Breathe.
After the police officer who choked Eric Garner to death was not acquitted, many people took up the phrase as a rallying cry, a banner to wave as protest against what they perceive to be unjustified and unaccounted-for police brutality, especially against black men in America.
The phrase has been printed on banners, t-shirts, protest signs, and cried aloud at protest marches.
And now at least one woman is looking to funnel the money from merchandise with that phrase to herself. Catherine Crump of Waukegan, Illinois filed an application on December 13 for trademark of the phrase “I Can’t Breathe” for “clothing, namely hoodies, T-shirts for men, women, boys, girls and infants.”
Crump says she has been using the phrase on commercial items since August. she included the required photos to show that she has used the phrase, and she paid the required filing fee of $325.
But some law professionals say she may have more of a battle securing the phrase than simply filing an application for trademark.
“If she’s not the first person to make these t-shirts, she’s going to be out of luck,” University of Chicago law professor Jonathan Masur said.
If Crump can prove that, then show may be able to get a trademark giving her exclusive rights to license the use of the phrase on clothing items. This means that anyone else who wants to print shorts with the phrase will have to pay a licensing fee to Crump to be able to do so.
But the trademark rights stop at clothing. Cynthia Ho, a law professor at Loyola University in Chicago, explains that no one can grab a phrase and completely rule its use in public. “You don’t get absolute monopoly rights over the words you trademark,” Ho said, “because that would violate the basic premise of free speech.”
More recently, after two New York police officers were assassinated in what appears to be retaliation for the Garner killing and others, rapper The Game used the phrase in a way that offended many.
The Game’s post was quickly denounced by many.
I will NEVER support @thegame again! SO disappointing as hes been one of my favorite #RealHipHop artists "guess you'll can't breathe either"
— HipHopShortStop⚾️ (@PrincessDanaoX) December 21, 2014
“@thegame: I guess y'all "can't breathe" either. #RIPEricGarner #AllLivesMatter @ Brighton & Hove, UK http://t.co/rFMBeUoKkb” pathetic
— Corey Carmello (@CoreyCarmello) December 21, 2014
But The Game responded by saying he was misunderstood.
“… you simple minded fucks skipped right over the real message to pull whatever negativity you could from my post…”
