With the release of âThe First Purge,â the latest installment in the 5-year-old dystopian franchise about government-sponsored killing sprees, you might be wondering, âHuh, is President Donald Trump still planning on using that âKeep America Greatâ slogan that was ripped straight from the horror movies?â
Well, readers, he is.
We waded into the complicated, literally horrifying waters to find out that, yes, Trumpâs team has indeed filed applications to trademark the phrase. And no, the âPurgeâ creators are not surprised. Oh, and thereâs a lone copyright applicant who could potentially stand in POTUSâs way.
To understand this saga, you need to go back to January 2017, when The Washington Post reported that Trump had revealed his new campaign slogan for 2020.
ââKeep America Great,â exclamation point,â he told the paper, seemingly off the cuff.
According to the Post, Trump called a lawyer in during the interview to trademark and register two different âKeep America Greatâ slogans â one with an exclamation point and one without â on the spot. âGot it,â the lawyer replied, and business seemed to be handled.
The only problem? Apparently unbeknownst to Trump, his lawyer and The Washington Post, the slogan had already appeared in a poignantly titled 2016 horror movie: âThe Purge: Election Year.â
What a cluster covfefe.
By using âKeep America Greatâ in its promotional materials, âPurge: Election Yearâ â which, like its franchise predecessors, centers on the one night a year when people can legally murder the hell out of each other as an act of radical catharsis â seemingly mocked Trumpâs âMake America Great Againâ phrase, effectively likening Trumpâs America to its cinematic nightmare.
Two years later, Trumpâs re-election campaign is actually trying to use âKeep America Greatâ itself, even though the horror movie connection went comically viral soon after the Washington Post interview.
At the time, we threw out some alternative slogans the president could use if KAG didnât work out, including âWho will survive and what will be left of them?â from 1974âs âTexas Chainsaw Massacre,â or âBe Afraid. Be very afraid.â from 1986âs âThe Fly.â As of now, Trump hasnât responded.
But as recently as last month, Trump told supporters in Wisconsin that he wanted to put âKeep America Greatâ on green hats.
The presidentâs insistence on using the phrase doesnât faze âPurgeâ producers Brad Fuller and Andrew Form.
âIt felt kind of natural after we made the movie and then he used that,â Fuller told HuffPost of the slogan. Fuller and Form doubt Trump has seen the movie or any of the other âPurgeâ films.
âThe First Purgeâ hit theaters on July 4 and continued to make obvious jabs at the president by involving an unmistakable parody of a MAGA hat in its promotional material.
âThat was Universal,â Form said of the decision to include the hat. âIt was one of those [instances] where you get the email and take a look at the teaser poster, and you open it up and say please put it in the theaters now, like, letâs go.â
The fact that the slogan âKeep America Greatâ appeared in a movie trailer doesnât constitute a legal obstacle for the Trump campaign. Kieran G. Doyle, a partner at Cowan, Liebowitz & Latman, P.C. who specializes in trademarks and copyright, told HuffPost that the film franchiseâs use of the phrase doesnât give it trademark rights.
In fact, by all indications, Trumpâs team did file Intent to Use forms for the horror flickâs phrase a year ago with the United States Patent and Trademark Office. Donald J. Trump for President Inc., the presidentâs official presidential campaign committee, submitted applications for âKeep America Great,â with and without exclamation points, on Jan. 18, 2017 â two days before Trump was even inaugurated with those ârecord-breakingâ crowds.
Donald J. Trump for President Inc. is the same organization that trademarked and helped implement Trumpâs âMake America Great Againâ slogan. All applications were filed by the same Jones Day attorney, Meredith M. Wilkes. Wilkes did not reply to HuffPostâs multiple requests for comment.
It felt kind of natural after we made the movie and then [Trump] used that.
âPurgeâ producer Brad Fuller
Some skeptics might think that the Trump campaign team filed the trademarks to cover its bases and doesnât actually plan on implementing a horror movie phrase. But Doyle told us that if anyone files a mark, you should âcertainly assumeâ they intend to use it.
âWhoever filed them has to state under oath they have bona fide intent to use these marks for the goods listed in the applications,â Doyle said.
However, the Donald J. Trump for President Inc. applications are currently listed as suspended on the United States Patent and Trademark Office website.
After digging around, HuffPost learned that another application for the slightly different phrase âKeep Our America Great,â filed on Jan. 5, 2017 (13 days before Trumpâs own application) â for use on hats â has priority over the Trump filings.
And it could have thwarted Trumpâs ability to use the phrase on hats of his own.
âLetâs suppose [that application] gets a Notice of Allowance and the Applicant keeps filing extensions of time to file a Statement of Use. [The filer] could extend his deadline to show use until beyond the next election, and Trump could be blocked from registering âKeep America Greatâ for hats,â Doyle said.
Of course, this other applicant would ultimately have to make use of the mark in order to stop others (Trump) from using it.
But in a phone conversation last month, the person behind the âKeep Our America Greatâ trademark application, Patrick Goux, said he had no intention of posing as a roadblock to Trumpâs team.
âI filed it so no liberal asshole could file it, and I was gonna donate it to the Trump campaign for a dollar and a handshake,â he said.
In fact, Goux said he had âinside informationâ that Democrats were going to try to trademark the phrase before Trump, and thatâs why he âsnatched it up.â He also said he was aware of âThe Purgeâ using âKeep America Great,â and said thatâs why his phrase adds the word âOur.â
Was he deterred because the slogan was in a horror movie?
âNope. Not at all.â
Since the only application blocking the Trump team doesnât actually oppose the president, and because use is what ultimately determines trademarks in the United States, it seems inevitable that Trumpâs team will be free to use a horror flick slogan for its 2020 campaign.
According to Doyle, Gouxâs willingness to help Trump could âpave the way for Trumpâs registration and use of the mark.â
âSince Mr. Goux seems interested in aiding Trump, it appears that Trump will end up with both the right to put that phrase on hats and the right to register that phrase for hats,â Doyle told HuffPost.
But if the president does change his mind, âBe afraid. Be very afraid,â is still available.