Here’s a nice companion to my last blog entry, not only has the SS harrassed an innocent 22 year-old woman who hates “W,” but apparently the department of Homeland Security also thinks trademark infringement (even when it isn’t trademark infringement) is a danger to national security. No, I haven’t been arrest for bootlegging, but an Oregon woman who owns a toy store was asked by USDoHS agents to remove a toy called “Magic Cube” from her shelves because it was in violation of the Rubik’s Cube patent.

She did as she was instructed and the agents waited to make sure she did it.

The catch is, a call to the makers of “Magic Cube” revealed that the trademark had lapsed after not being renewed by the original owners. Here’s a clip from an AP article posted over at Yahoo News:

Virginia Kice, a spokeswoman for Immigration and Customs Enforcement, said agents went to Pufferbelly based on a trademark infringement complaint filed in the agency’s intellectual property rights center in Washington, D.C.

“One of the things that our agency’s responsible for doing is protecting the integrity of the economy and our nation’s financial systems and obviously trademark infringement does have significant economic implications,” she said.

This is, of course, complete and utter bullshit. The Department of Homeland Security investigating trademark infringement? What does the FBI spend it’s time doing? Hell–trademark infringement is mostly a civil crime, what the hell is any law enforcement department doing investigating any of it for, anyway? OH YEAH, the companies own the government…apparently.

If that’s not the reason, what is the reason?

As the Oregon toy store owner says in the above clipped AP article:

“Aren’t there any terrorists out there?”

Read more about this story over at Yahoo News.

from the AP and Yahoo News:

Homeland Security Agents Visit Toy Store

Thu Oct 28, 5:20 PM ET

ST. HELENS, Ore. - So far as she knows, Pufferbelly Toys owner Stephanie Cox hasn’t been passing any state secrets to sinister foreign governments, or violating obscure clauses in the Patriot Act.

So she was taken aback by a mysterious phone call from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security to her small store in this quiet Columbia River town just north of Portland.

“I was shaking in my shoes,” Cox said of the September phone call. “My first thought was the government can shut your business down on a whim, in my opinion. If I’m closed even for a day that would cause undue stress.”

When the two agents arrived at the store, the lead agent asked Cox whether she carried a toy called the Magic Cube, which he said was an illegal copy of the Rubik’s Cube, one of the most popular toys of all time.

He told her to remove the Magic Cube from her shelves, and he watched to make sure she complied.

After the agents left, Cox called the manufacturer of the Magic Cube, the Toysmith Group, which is based in Auburn, Wash. A representative told her that Rubik’s Cube patent had expired, and the Magic Cube did not infringe on the rival toy’s trademark.

Virginia Kice, a spokeswoman for Immigration and Customs Enforcement, said agents went to Pufferbelly based on a trademark infringement complaint filed in the agency’s intellectual property rights center in Washington, D.C.

“One of the things that our agency’s responsible for doing is protecting the integrity of the economy and our nation’s financial systems and obviously trademark infringement does have significant economic implications,” she said.

Six weeks after her brush with Homeland Security, Cox told The Oregonian she is still bewildered by the experience.

“Aren’t there any terrorists out there?” she said.

___

Information from: The Oregonian

Copyright � 2004 The Associated Press