Proud Boys lose their trademark possession to a Black church they vandalized, court docket guidelines

The possession of the Proud Boys’ trademark is now within the palms of a Black church that the White supremacist group vandalized in 2020. 

The Metropolitan African Methodist Episcopal Church in Washington, D.C., was granted possession of the group’s trademark in a Feb. 3 ruling from Decide Tanya M. Jones Bosier of the Superior Courtroom of the District of Columbia. The choice additionally offers the Metropolitan AME Church a lien on the trademark and the ability to dam the Proud Boys from utilizing the trademark or promoting licensed items, like T-shirts or hats, with out the church’s approval. 

Enrique Tarrio, the Proud Boys’ chief, did not instantly reply to a request for remark. In a press release to the New York Instances, which earlier reported the court docket ruling, and which Tarrio posted on X, he stated the decide ought to be impeached and the church’s nonprofit standing revoked. 

Tarrio, who had been serving a 22-year sentence for seditious conspiracy tied to his position within the Jan. 6, 2021, assault on the U.S. Capitol constructing, was pardoned by President Trump after his Jan. 20 inauguration.

The ruling on the Proud Boys’ copyright stems from an incident on Dec. 12, 2020, when members of the all-male right-wing group attended a “cease the steal” occasion in Washington, D.C., and in addition attacked the Metropolitan AME Church by climbing over a fence to get onto church property, the place they destroyed a “Black Lives Issues” signal, in keeping with court docket paperwork. A court docket ordered the Proud Boys to pay the church $2.8 million, cash that the group has did not pay, the paperwork word. 

In consequence, the court docket gave the Metropolitan AME Church possession of the trademark, giving them the appropriate to disclaim use of the group’s title and yellow or black laurel wreath image. 

“That is our time to face up, to be very clear to the Proud Boys and their ilk that we got here right here combating, that now we have by no means ever capitulated to the violent whims of White supremacist teams,” Rev. William H. Lamar IV, pastor of the Metropolitan AME Church, advised CBS MoneyWatch. “In the event that they thought we’d be afraid, they had been flawed. There are lots of folks with us and who stand with us.”

The Metropolitan AME Church, which was based in 1838 and has hosted audio system together with Frederick Douglass and Eleanor Roosevelt, can now gather funds from gross sales of Proud Boys merchandise in addition to its membership dues, folks aware of the case stated. The church also can block the Proud Boys from utilizing the trademark, they stated.

The notoriety of the Proud Boys’ title probably helped the group in recruitment, which suggests blocking use of its trademark might each damage the group’s capacity to promote merchandise and recruit new members, they added.

“From our standpoint, it is becoming that the cash the Proud Boys raised in gross sales and dues will go to fund the nice work of the Metropolitan AME,” Kaitlin Banner, who represented the church within the case and serves as deputy authorized director on the Washington Legal professionals’ Committee for Civil Rights and City Affairs, advised CBS. 

In his assertion posted on X, Tarrio indicated he did not intend to honor the court docket’s ruling. “I maintain in contempt any motions, judgments and orders issued towards me,” he wrote.