WANTS TO USE THE WORD FOR CLOTHING LINE, BOOKS, ETC..

Actor, Damon Wayans has been engaged in a 14-month fight to trademark the term “Nigga” for a clothing line and retail store, a search of the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office’s online database reveals. Wayans wants to dress customers in 14 kinds of attire from tops to bottoms, and use the controversial mark on “clothing, books, music and general merchandise,” as well as movies, TV and the internet, according to his applications.

Lynda Zadra-Symes, a trademark lawyer in California, said Wayans may be successful. She compared “Nigga” to the successful registration of Dykes on Bikes. The San Francisco Women’s Motorcycle Contingent fought the Trademark Office for three years to overturn an initial rejection of a Dykes on Bikes trademark. The mark was published Jan. 24.

“Because the application was by a group of lesbians it was eventually allowed to publish,” Zadra-Symes said.

“This is a great victory,” the group proclaimed on its website. “It affirms our right to determine who we are and how we present ourselves to the world.”
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This whole issue brings up the debate on whether or not we should still continue to use the word “nigga”. I mean people are trying to make the word a brand name now. I don’t know about you, but I wouldn’t want to see some white kid rocking a “nigga” shirt. Or hear him talking about the latest outfit he got by ‘nigga’. That kid is bound to get his ass beat.

Is Damon Wayans going too far? Should he trademark the word before some white corporate guy does? Is it too late to even try to stop using the word? How do yall feel about this issue?