A little over a year ago, there was some buzz about Leo Stoller, a slimey guy who claims to have the intellectual property rights of thousands of words that he claims are his trademarks and brands.
My buddy and hero Kembrew McLeod, who is a professional prankster, tenured professor, and filmmaker, happened to actually own a trademark on the phrase “Freedom of Expression” (for use as a periodical title, now expired). For completely unrelated reasons, I had registered the domain freedomofexpression.org. Turns out, Leo Stoller also claimed to have a trademark on this expression.
Kembrew came up with the brilliant idea of sending a cease and desist letter to Stoller. My friend Julie Gilberg was game for making us some art, we got a couple other domains registered, and soon we had the Freedom of Expression Security Consortium: Regulating Freedom in the Marketplace of Ideas.
People were pretty into the whole thing, and it was even covered on Boing Boing. Whoo hoo!
But Stoller never responded, and the whole thing faded away as a happy memory.
Well, I recently got a nice surprise in the comments section of my post on the stunt:
links cleaned up by me
Stoller has now been enjoined as a vexatious litigant and barred from filing any more lawsuits or trademark oppositions without first getting permission from the court. The bankruptcy judge has also revealed how Stoller’s business scheme was working. See, document 1 (pdf) and document 2 (pdf).
Wow! I don’t know what enjoined means, but it sounds like justice to me! And how cool is it that a lawyer involved in the case found my blog and left an update on the story! (this is why I love blogs and other new media… the simple, powerful ways through which people can connect).
So it seems that Leo Stoller’s racket is shut down. Clearly Kembrew, Julie, and I are at least partially responsible…
nice!
The internet allowed slimey stealthman stoller to make a few bucks, harrass lots and lots and lots of nice people, but - hey, hehe - the internet is the means that also brought him down. I love it!
I met Stoller a couple of years ago, and he immediately started bragging about how he owned “stealth.” I didn’t know his last name, but with only a first name, city, and the word “stealth” found volumes, including the Freedom of Expression cease and desist letter (haha Leo, I googled it!). I found it so amusing I bought McLeod’s book.
Stoller deserves what’s happening to him now - he really asked for it.
If you or your readers happen to be in Chicago on July 24, 2007 the bankruptcy court will be conducting an auction of Stoller’s trademark portfolio and corporate stock. A newly formed company, The Society for the Prevention of Trademark Abuse LLC, has tendered a bid. All are, however, invited to attend the show and try to take home a piece of IP history.
Isn’t Leo Stoller in jail?