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Old Glory Condoms - still worn with pride country-wide;
radical safer sex corporation celebrates thirty years of redefining patriotism; a legal textbook Trademark case
Thirty years ago CEO Jay Critchley founded the Old Glory Condom Corporation - worn with pride country-wide, which redefined the definition of patriotism: to protect and save lives. It was launched at an exhibition at MIT in 1989. At the time the US Congress was debating a Constitutional Amendment to outlaw desecration of the flag following a Supreme Court ruling declaring it free speech while the government was doing little to confront the HIV/AIDS crisis.
When the company applied for a US Trademark, the government deemed the name and logo - the American flag imprinted on a condom, “as immoral and scandalous to associate the flag with sex”. This led to a three-year legal battle that forced the government to issue the Trademark.
Old Glory Condoms is reviving its potent message and relaunching its brand with trademarked
t-shirts, mugs and even flip flops. At this time condoms are not available, although they may be in the future.
When the company applied for a US Trademark, the government deemed the name and logo - the American flag imprinted on a condom, “as immoral and scandalous to associate the flag with sex”. This led to a three-year legal battle that forced the government to issue the Trademark.
Old Glory Condoms is reviving its potent message and relaunching its brand with trademarked
t-shirts, mugs and even flip flops. At this time condoms are not available, although they may be in the future.
Attorney David Cole, presently National Legal Director at the American Civil Liberties Union, took on the case while at the Center for Constitutional Rights and recently commented on the results:
“Your legal battle was important both culturally and legally. It arose in the heart of the culture wars over both the proper uses of the flag, and over safe sex and HIV-AIDS. As a legal matter, the Old Glory Condom case became a textbook case (literally) in the application of the disparagement and scandalous provisions of the Trademark Act. In the past few years, the Supreme Court has held unconstitutional the legal provisions applied to deny you a trademark, in cases involving an Asian rock group that sought to trademark their name, The Slants, and a clothing manufacturer who wanted to trademark its brandname, FUCT. So you were ahead of your time!”
“The challenge to freedom, democracy and sex and gender could not be more relevant today”, especially as we commemorate the 400th anniversary of the arrival of the Pilgrims on indigenous peoples land in 2020”, states Critchley. “For years people have asked us for these irreverent creations so we dug into our archives – a patriotic Christmas!” he added.
The controversy generated worldwide media coverage including the front page of the Washington Post and a feature in People Magazine. But its most successful prize was from conservative Senator Jessie Helms, an architect of the culture wars, who inadvertently created the first global safer sex commercial by holding up the Old Glory logo in the US Senate and denounced its Trademark, which was broadcast on CNN.
CEO Critchley is a respected corporate leader and influencer whose projects and actions have tackled global environmental issues like plastics, fossil fuels and the automobile, including legislative filings and governmental interventions. His offices and home are on Cape Cod in Provincetown, Massachusetts USA. For more information: [email protected]
Contact: Jay Critchley, CEO
Old Glory Condom Corporation - condoms with a conscience
[email protected]
www.jaycritchley.com
“Your legal battle was important both culturally and legally. It arose in the heart of the culture wars over both the proper uses of the flag, and over safe sex and HIV-AIDS. As a legal matter, the Old Glory Condom case became a textbook case (literally) in the application of the disparagement and scandalous provisions of the Trademark Act. In the past few years, the Supreme Court has held unconstitutional the legal provisions applied to deny you a trademark, in cases involving an Asian rock group that sought to trademark their name, The Slants, and a clothing manufacturer who wanted to trademark its brandname, FUCT. So you were ahead of your time!”
“The challenge to freedom, democracy and sex and gender could not be more relevant today”, especially as we commemorate the 400th anniversary of the arrival of the Pilgrims on indigenous peoples land in 2020”, states Critchley. “For years people have asked us for these irreverent creations so we dug into our archives – a patriotic Christmas!” he added.
The controversy generated worldwide media coverage including the front page of the Washington Post and a feature in People Magazine. But its most successful prize was from conservative Senator Jessie Helms, an architect of the culture wars, who inadvertently created the first global safer sex commercial by holding up the Old Glory logo in the US Senate and denounced its Trademark, which was broadcast on CNN.
CEO Critchley is a respected corporate leader and influencer whose projects and actions have tackled global environmental issues like plastics, fossil fuels and the automobile, including legislative filings and governmental interventions. His offices and home are on Cape Cod in Provincetown, Massachusetts USA. For more information: [email protected]
Contact: Jay Critchley, CEO
Old Glory Condom Corporation - condoms with a conscience
[email protected]
www.jaycritchley.com
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