jealously guard the real
Josh Marshall notes that anti-tax samurai Grover Norquist has applied to trademark the phrase “K Street Project.” The K Street Project began in the mid-nineties by Tom DeLay and Norquist as an effort to ensure that the major lobbying firms hired only Republican insiders and channel corporate money into Republican campaign coffers. The project was successful, considering the Republican control of the house and the corporate-friendly agenda pushed through government.
With the emerging publicity around Jack Abramoff and Tom DeLay’s misdeeds, the K Street Project is bound to gain media attention. Norquist’s attempt to trademark the phrase is a way to lock down the way it is used and close down the discourse surrounding right-wing lobbying. Clearly this is an abuse of the current intellectual property regime and a startling example of why we need to reform intellectual property laws in order to maintain free discourse about politics, society, and culture.
Update: Josh Marshall now says Norquist was just trademarking the K Street Project logo. In retrospect, it seems unlikely that Norquist could use the trademark as much of cudgel in media discourse, but now it’s clear that he isn’t trying to shut down coverage of his work.
