Jews register anti-Israel slogan as a trademark
A slogan is used at demonstrations calling for a "free Palestine" from the Jordan to the Mediterranean. Terrorist organizations such as Hamas use the same phrase to call for the destruction of Israel. Two Americans apply for trademark rights to the slogan.
Two Jewish US citizens have registered a slogan used by demonstrators worldwide to protest against Israel as a trademark. On November 17, Joel Ackerman registered the slogan "from the river to the sea, Palestine will be free" as a trademark with the United States Patent and Trademark Office. Oron Rosenkrantz applied to register the trademark "from the river to the sea" on November 8.
In German, the slogan means "from the river to the sea, Palestine will be free" - the river refers to the Jordan River, which marks the border between the West Bank and Jordan, while the sea is the Mediterranean, primarily the coast of Israel.
Ackerman founded the company "River to the Sea LLC" and claims the brand for caps and T-shirts. Rosenkrantz' company is called "From The River To The Sea Shop LLC", he is only interested in T-shirts. According to the magazine "Newsweek", both applications are currently being processed by the US Patent Office.
Call for a state or for the destruction of Israel?
There are very different interpretations of how the slogan is to be understood. It is "a response to the fragmentation of Palestinian land and the Palestinian people by Israeli occupation and discrimination", wrote the Palestinian-American writer Yousef Munayyer in 2021. The call expresses the demand for a state "in which Palestinians can live as free and equal citizens in their homeland without being dominated by others or dominating them".
However, this can also be seen quite differently. The historian Jarrod Tanny replied to Munayyer that there was "little reason to assume" that Jews would fare well in a state of "Palestine". The slogan was already used by the Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO) in the 1960s, and Hamas also uses it, referring to the destruction of Israel.
In fact, the slogan does not say that "the Palestinians" should be free, but "Palestine". This is also how the Bundesliga club Mainz 05 understood the slogan: after striker Anwar El Ghazi posted the slogan on Instagram, the club dismissed the footballer without notice. Whether the dismissal was legal is currently being heard by the Mainz labor court.
"The action could backfire"
Initial reactions to the trademark applicants' initiative were amused. "A Jewish lawyer in the USA has obtained the trademark for 'from the river to the sea, Palestine will be free' and wants to sue anyone who uses it," writes one user on X.
But it's not that simple. The action could "backfire", Israeli lawyer and trademark law expert Lihi Katzenelson told the "Jerusalem Post". She pointed out that an application for trademark rights in the USA takes between nine months and a year - so the war between Israel and Hamas could already be over by then. In addition, trademark owners would have to prove that they are actually using the trademark. And finally, trademark law would only apply in the USA.
"We don't know exactly what the outcome will be, but the chances [of them getting these trademarks] are not that good," Katzenelson told the newspaper. "Since it's just caps and T-shirts, it would be very difficult to stop the use for other services and goods." The lawyer fears that the applications could trigger anti-Jewish resentment and the slogan could gain additional notoriety. "Everyone is talking about this slogan," she said. The decision to register it as a trademark "may not help the applicants' cause".
Slogan is part of the Hamas ban
In Germany, the legal situation with regard to the slogan has not been clear until now. Depending on the context, displaying the slogan could be considered incitement of the people and therefore punishable by law. Corresponding investigations are underway in Berlin following a number of demonstrations celebrating the Hamas massacres in October. In August, the Berlin Administrative Court ruled that the slogan "was not in itself anti-Semitic and also made no reference to genocide", as reported by the Tagesspiegel.
However, the legal situation may have changed as a result of the Hamas ban issued by Federal Minister of the Interior Nancy Faeser at the beginning of November. The five-page ban order lists "distinctive signs" of Hamas, including "the slogan 'From the river to the sea' (in German or other languages)". Munich senior public prosecutor Andreas Franck told the "Süddeutsche Zeitung" two weeks ago that his office would prosecute the slogan in future. Other public prosecutor's offices want to examine this.
Source: www.ntv.de
