It’s election season, which usually brings out the stupid in hired events directors. After every rally, a candidate ends with the obligatory “God Bless America” and begins shaking hands and kissing babies to some song that evokes a little nationalism or rally cry.
Now, social media directors are getting in the act, and they appear to be equally as unaware that all those pesky trademark and copyright infringement laws apply to their candidate as well.
Many times, said director is about as tone deaf as Helen Keller and believes his or her candidate du jour could use any song or image out there, but vocalists, bands, production companies, and artists are a bit wary of where their content is applied.
Most recently, Donald Trump was discussing the reinstated sanctions he is placing again on Iran geared to prevent the totalitarian country from investigating the possibility of creating nuclear weapons.
Are we not fans of terrorists? Not one bit. But… many people are fans of Trump either. Speaking of tone deaf…
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 2, 2018
Yeah, about that. Just because you’re the president and possibly (but very unlikely) a fan of Game of Thrones, doesn’t entitle you to create some cheeky graphic with a very recognizable moniker.
To wit, HBO had this to subtweet in Trump’s direction:
How do you say trademark misuse in Dothraki?
— HBO (@HBO) November 2, 2018
Yeah, hurts to miss that one, POTUS. Maybe that’s why most presidents have legal counsel chime in from time-to-time on things.
The creator of GoT even got the jokes and subtweets, but his had a different point. Mid-terms!
@realDonaldTrump #Vote pic.twitter.com/IZe7KwQQvk
— George RR Martin (@GRRMspeaking) November 2, 2018
As of now, Trump’s “borrowed” tweet is still live and no response has come from Sarah Sanders’ lips. Probably won’t unless a nerd works in the communications office who speaks Dothraki.
Should that happen, it turns out the unavailable permission swung all the way over to the democratic coalition, which had this to say from its president:
#MuellerIsComing…SOON!!! pic.twitter.com/3YzknmIeZN
— Jon Cooper 🌊 (@joncoopertweets) November 2, 2018
Yeah, so that happened. Maybe a House of Cards reference will be next week. That should be fun.
