Update 5/27/2020 – The online marketplace Redbubble has reinstated the sale of the editorial cartoon that criticizes President Trump.
Original Post 5/27/2020 – The National Coalition Against Censorship has joined the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund (CBLDF) and other free speech organizations in calling for the online marketplace Redbubble to resume the sale of an editorial cartoon that criticizes President Trump.
The cartoon by Pulitzer Prize-winning editorial cartoonist Nick Anderson was removed by Redbubble after the Trump campaign (Donald J. Trump for President, Inc.) charged that the cartoon’s depiction of “Make American Great Again” hats constitutes trademark infringement.
In a letter to Redbubble, NCAC and CBLDF asserted that the Trump campaign misused Redbubble’s system for tracking trademark infringement to suppress a work that involves parody and critique, which are constitutionally protected forms of political expression.
“Political campaigns have no business suppressing free expression, and that’s precisely what’s happening here,” CBLDF Executive Director Charles Brownstein told Newsarama.
In addition to NCAC and CBLDF, the letter to Redbubble was signed by the American Library Association Office for Intellectual Freedom, Authors Guild, the Association of American Editorial Cartoonists, the Freedom to Read Foundation and PEN America.
The full letter can be read below. Click here for a full-screen view.