As nj.com reports, Chris Christie is fond of wearing a lapel pin with a shape like that of the State of New Jersey and emblazoned with stars and stripes. The New Jersey State Republican Party is using such lapel pins as a fund-raising gimmick. Fork over $25 a month, and they'll give you your very own Christie-style lapel pin. There's just one problem: the design is copyrighted by the New Jersey State Bar Association.
“It’s not a Republican pin," Ralph Lamparello, the New Jersey State Bar Association president , said. "It’s a State Bar pin. It’s our pin. We copyrighted it. Any of our members can wear it. The governor certainly can wear it … But now we’ve got to look at the issue that the Republican Party is using it as a profit center. And that’s a no-no.”
Now the group of lawyers has hired a lawyer to look into the matter.
“We’re not looking to make a profit," Lamparello said. "We’re not looking to hurt anybody. But we can’t sit on our rights on something we have a copyright for.”
[....]
An attorney for the Republican State Committee declined to comment.
As Mr. Rogers might say, "Can you spell, '
infringement"?