Julian Assange Has Trademarked His Name
What do rapey secret leaker Julian Assange and greedy imbecile Sarah Palin have in common? Both love money, and have trademarked their names in pursuit of making more of it.
Palin filed to trademark her name—and her daughter Bristol's—earlier this month. And Assange, who has always presented Wikileaks as a nonprofit, noncommercial endeavor, filed to trademark his in the UK two weeks ago. (He's also filed marks for Wikileaks and its logo.) According to the application, Assange hopes to use his name exclusively to market his "public speaking services; news reporter services; [and] entertainment services."
When Palin trademarked her name, experts found it unusual inasmuch as most politicians don't seek to profit from the use of their names. Assange is perfectly free, of course, to attempt to corner the market among reportorial service providers named Julian Assange. But it's worth pointing out that much more famous British journalists like Jeremy Paxon and Martin Bashir haven't taken the same step. So far, Assange hasn't filed in the U.S.
[Photo via Getty]