Anti-Islamic group trademark is ‘disparaging’ to Muslims

The Stop Islamization of America organisation has lost an appeal to trademark the name of the group.

The group had originally applied to trademark the name in 2011, but was rejected by the US Patent and Trademark Office. The US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit yesterday rejected an appeal from the group to reverse the original decision.

The court ruled the mark to be “disparaging to American Muslims” adding that “the admonition in the mark to stop sets a negative tone”. They concluded that it results in a “direct association of Islam and its followers with terrorism.”

The group argued that ‘Islamisation’ has only been used in the public domain to refer to a political movement that seeks to introduce Islamic laws. The court rejected this claim, citing advertisements displayed on buses in Detroit that offered support and advice to Muslims who wanted to leave their faith. The court found that the campaign focused on personal rather than political beliefs.

Founded in 2010 by Pamela Geller and Robert Spencer, the organisation is well known for running advertising campaigns opposing the building of mosques across the US. In June 2011, the group was listed as a ‘hate group’ by the Southern Poverty Law Centre, a civil rights organisation.