Hall of Shame - United States Marine Corps

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United States Marine Corps
Hall Of Shame Member
Added October 11, 2011

Last updated - October 27, 2011

From the Halls of Montezuma to Tabberone's Trademark and Copyright Abusers' Hall Of Shame. The USMC is here courtesy of their not so illustrious trademark counsel, Philip J. Greene, U.S. Marine Corps Trademark Licensing Office, who is so full of shit his baby blue eyes are turning brown.

The United States Marine Corps is another proud winner of the Tabberone We Say So Award given to those arrogant morons like Philip J. Greene who believe the world revolves around them and that gives them the right to ignore the rights of others.

We are not sure if Philip J. Greene has been taking his hobby too seriously, being a cocktail master, but it sure leaves unanswered questions about his ability to function as a competent trademark attorney (there's an oxymoron for your collection). Philip J. Greene has been terminating listings of people who are using licensed USMC fabrics to make and then sell things. And he then admits he has no idea who has a license to manufacture fabric with the logos of the United States Marine Corps. We are not making this up. We have the emails to support what we say. Click Here for more about Philip Greene and the emails he has been sending.

Philip Greene must dabble in mind reading when he is not doing his "mixology" thing because he makes a number of incorrect assumptions as to what we were thinking when we posted our comments about him, the USMC and trademarks in general. He also indulges in what we call "lawyerly lying" when he quotes the statutes. He quotes 10 USC Sec. 7881, Unauthorized use of Marine Corps insignia, while failing to mention 32 CFR 765.14, Unofficial use of the seal, emblem, names, or initials of the Marine Corps, which specifically states no license is required:

(3) Acceptable use of imitation of the Marine Corps insignia. No request for permission is required when a use or imitation of the Marine Corps emblem, names, or initials includes prominent display of the disclaimer, "Neither the United States Marine Corps nor any other component of the Department of Defense has approved, endorsed, or authorized this product (or promotion, or service, or activity)" as an integral part of the use of imitation. A "prominent display" is one located on the same page as the first use of the insignia, prominent in that use, and printed in letters at least one half the size and density of the insignia.
[emphasis added]

On October 11, 2011, Philip Greene emails an Etsy seller to "allow" the re-listing of the formerly dastardly fabric items made from fabric manufactured by Springs. The seller inquired about it, asking if he had established "that Springs does have permission to print USMC fabrics?". On Tue, Oct 11, 2011 at 2:25 PM, Greene CIV Philip J [philip.greene@usmc.mil] wrote to the Etsy seller (in part):

I've tried to "hedge" my words with respect to Springs, I've said things like "to my knowledge they are not a licensee." The reason for that is that it's entirely possible that I'm mistaken. We THINK we have complete records of what people did before our time, and we DO have a copy of a permission letter on file with Springs, but only to MAKE products, not sell fabric. For all I know they do have a license, but it's just not in our records.
Best regards,
Philip Greene

Philip Greene says he was trying "hedge" his words with respect to Springs. "Hedge"? Is that another word or "Lying out his ass"? "To his knowledge"? If Philip Greene did not know if the fabric from Springs was licensed, why not take the time to definitely find out BEFORE taking potentially harmful action against the seller? Philip? It ain't that difficult to do, Boy. Or was your mixology taking up too much of your time so you couldn't DO YOUR JOB.
So, in our opinion, Philip Greene could not have had a good faith belief that the fabric items were infringing when he alleged that the fabric was not licensed because he admits he did not know and still does not know if Springs has permission to print the fabrics. We believe Philip Greene knowingly misrepresented trademark infringement in his NOCI to Etsy. Under the DMCA § 512(f): "'Knowingly' means that a party actually knew, should have known if it acted with reasonable care or diligence, or would have had no substantial doubt had it been acting in good faith, that it was making misrepresentations." (see Online Policy Group v. Diebold, 337 F.Supp.2d 1195,1204 (N.D. Cal 2004),
The Notice Of Claimed Infringement ("NOCI") is defined in the DMCA and requires the sender to state the facts are true under penalty of perjury. It is our opinion that someone committed perjury when the NOCI was sent to Etsy.

P E R J U R Y

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If we claimed that Philip J. Greene, Esq. committed PERJURY when he issued the take down order to Etsy, he could try suing us for defamation. So Phil baby, for the record, we're not claiming YOU committed perjury when you filed the Notice Of Claimed Infringement ("NOCI") with Etsy the listing in question. It was someone who looked just like you (really stupid) and was using your your name and your office. You can understand how we could be confused on the subject, can't you Phil?

You see, Philip, it's our position that corporate lawyers routinely lie to the courts so why wouldn't they also not flinch at lying to Etsy? What we find disturbing is that the courts, and Etsy, don't really care if corporate lawyers lie to them. They consider all part of the game. It's a game, to you and your fellow corporate lawyers. It's innocent lives that you try to ruin when you bank the buck from the USMC, not caring about the law, court cases or the UCC.

The "P" word that applies stands for Pathetic.

And Phil, if you decide you want to sue, please spell our names correctly. It's the little things that matter.

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P E R J U R Y

The USMC must be very proud to have Philip Greene as their Trademark Counsel. But where is the Honor? Perhaps he left it at the Department of Commerce? And why did he leave?

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