Fair, noncommercial trademark use

“Ken dumps Barbie” read the ads, which feature a picture of a frowning Ken doll, male companion to Mattel’s Barbie. Ken apparently did this because Mattel, maker of Barbie dolls, contributes to global deforestation, and Greenpeace isn’t happy about that. Greenpeace tried to run this ad, but it was rejected by Facebook:

Greenpeace seems to have a point. There is a concept akin to copyright’s fair use doctrine that relates to trademark use, although as always with trademarks, if there is evidence of confusion among the public, things start to go off the rails fast. Here’s what Greenpeace had to say about the Facebook takedown:

According to our legal analysis prior to the campaign, this complaint to Facebook that Greenpeace… Continue reading →