By Boris Manenti
LE NOUVEL OBSERVATEUR/Worldcrunch
PARIS – French online t-shirt retailer/website designer Early Flicker became the latest target of Hacktivists Anonymous after registering the group's logo and slogan as trademarks with the French National Industrial Property Institute (INPI).
"Our logo and our slogan have been diverted for commercial uses by an unscrupulous firm," announced Anonymous in a video posted on YouTube (see below). "The manager of Early Flicker stole our symbols when he registered them as trademarks for commercial purposes," added the group, who warned they would unleash their anger if the trademark wasn't unregistered.
Early Flicker's representative reacted to the threat in a post published on Anonymous Global Relay:
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"A lot of customers have been submitting Anonymous logos since the early days of the website. As a professional, it is my duty to check that these logos aren't registered, which I have done dutifully, after each order. I run a small website, t-shirts are cheap and I don't intend to make a big profit here."
The firm's representative stressed that "these logos do not belong to anybody" and that "no copyright was ever requested".
The trademark, which includes both slogan and logo, was filed in June and accepted by the INPI. It covers three categories of products: clothing, leather goods (cases, suitcases, wallets, bags) as well as miscellaneous products such as combs, sponges, brushes, porcelain items, dinnerware. Early Flicker's online store is already retailing a t-shirt featuring Anonymous' slogan.
Watch Anonymous' video (in French):
Read the original article in French.
