June 16, 2020

The Trump Files: Donald Accuses “Miss Nude Southern USA” of Trademark Infringement

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This post was originally published as part of “The Trump Files”—a collection of telling episodes, strange but true stories, and curious scenes from the life of our current President—on November 7, 2016.

Donald Trump is a litigious man. He has threatened to sue the 12 women who have come forward to accuse him of sexual assault. He has threatened to sue the New York Times for publishing a story about his alleged sexual assaults. He sued Univision. His lawyers tried to shut down a bike race in Colorado because it was called the Tour de Rump. He sued an architecture critic for $500 million because the critic said he had bad taste. His real estate company once sued the mortgage company he’d slapped his name on for not paying rent.

So when Trump took over the Miss Universe pageant in 1996, every other pageant in America was soon on notice. Over the next two decades, his lawyers filed legal challenges against at least 23 different pageants, charging that they were infringing on the trademark of Miss USA, which Miss Universe LLP owns. The pageants challenged by Trump’s Miss Universe included Miss South Sudan USA, Miss Sierra Leone USA, Miss Teen Latina, Mrs. USA, Miss Plus USA, Señorita Mexico USA, Mr. and Mrs. Punjabi USA, Mrs. USA International, Miss Arab USA, and Miss Multiverse.

Wait, Miss Multiverse, really?

Page 3 of Miss Multiverse:

Page 3 of Miss Multiverse

Yes, Miss Multiverse. (The complaint, which was filed in 2015, has not been resolved.)

Miss Universe under Trump (who sold the company in 2015) also filed complaints against Miss Sweetheart USA, Miss Thick’e USA, Miss Thick’e Universe, Miss Chinese USA, Miss Africa USA, Miss Black Universe, Miss Nude Southern USA, Miss Casino Queen of the Universe, Miss Asia-USA, Miss Guinee USA, Miss Gay Universe, Mr. Gay Universe, Miss Hip-Hop America USA, and Miss African-American USA.

Trump’s companies have a very good record in these cases. But he does not always win. In 2003, Miss Universe LLP filed a complaint opposing an application to trademark Miss Nude Southern USA, arguing that it was “confusingly similar” to the existing “Miss USA” trademark. “Applicant’s mark merely inserts additional modifying words (‘NUDE SOUTHERN’) between the words ‘Miss’ and ‘USA,'” his attorneys argued.

The owners of the competing pageant fired back with a compelling argument—adjectives matter. “The strong primary noun NUDE and SOUTHERN arranged between MISS and USA, prima facie contravert any allegation of confusing similarity.”

 

The two parties eventually reached a settlement and the complaint was withdrawn.

 

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WHO DOESN’T LOVE A POSITIVE STORY—OR TWO?

“Great journalism really does make a difference in this world: it can even save kids.”

That’s what a civil rights lawyer wrote to Julia Lurie, the day after her major investigation into a psychiatric hospital chain that uses foster children as “cash cows” published, letting her know he was using her findings that same day in a hearing to keep a child out of one of the facilities we investigated.

That’s awesome. As is the fact that Julia, who spent a full year reporting this challenging story, promptly heard from a Senate committee that will use her work in their own investigation of Universal Health Services. There’s no doubt her revelations will continue to have a big impact in the months and years to come.

Like another story about Mother Jones’ real-world impact.

This one, a multiyear investigation, published in 2021, exposed conditions in sugar work camps in the Dominican Republic owned by Central Romana—the conglomerate behind brands like C&H and Domino, whose product ends up in our Hershey bars and other sweets. A year ago, the Biden administration banned sugar imports from Central Romana. And just recently, we learned of a previously undisclosed investigation from the Department of Homeland Security, looking into working conditions at Central Romana. How big of a deal is this?

“This could be the first time a corporation would be held criminally liable for forced labor in their own supply chains,” according to a retired special agent we talked to.

Wow.

And it is only because Mother Jones is funded primarily by donations from readers that we can mount ambitious, yearlong—or more—investigations like these two stories that are making waves.

About that: It’s unfathomably hard in the news business right now, and we came up about $28,000 short during our recent fall fundraising campaign. We simply have to make that up soon to avoid falling further behind than can be made up for, or needing to somehow trim $1 million from our budget, like happened last year.

If you can, please support the reporting you get from Mother Jones—that exists to make a difference, not a profit—with a donation of any amount today. We need more donations than normal to come in from this specific blurb to help close our funding gap before it gets any bigger.

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