Trump Already Eyeing Re-Election With Trademark Registration

It seems that even before beginning his first term in office, Donald Trump has his sights set on a second term as President of the United States. The President-elect has already potentially revealed and trademarked the slogan for his 2020 re-election campaign.

Halfway through an interview with The Washington Post regarding how he came up with the ubiquitous 'Make America Great Again' slogan which he used throughout his last election campaign, Trump revealed his slogan for 2020 would be 'Keep America Great'. Upon disclosing his 2020 slogan, the President-elect immediately instructed a lawyer to come into the interview in order to begin the process of obtaining a trademark over it, along with 'Keep America Great!', the same phrase but featuring an exclamation mark.

However, the 2020 slogan has predictably led to a flurry of criticism on social media. Many pointed out that the slogan was reminiscent of the 2016 horror film The Purge: Election Year which used the same slogan in its own advertising campaign.  Others were of the opinion that Trump should focus on tackling his first term, rather than giving his attention towards being re-elected.

Yet, for all his quick action in obtaining the trademark for the slogan, Trump has failed to obtain the rights to the domain name 'KEEPAMERICAGREAT.COM' as a Twitter user was quick to point out that the domain was owned be someone in Australia.  This is not the first time that Trump has suffered for his shortcomings in securing his intellectual property rights. In 2015 he had to pay $100,000 in order to purchase the trademark 'Make America Great Again' from radio hosts who were able to obtain the trademark over the slogan before Trump.

Though the world will be more concerned with what 4 years of a Trump presidency will bring then any possible re-election bid it will be interesting to see if Trump takes any further steps to protect intellectual property for a potential 2020 campaign. This whole episode also demonstrates the importance of planning ahead and being proactive in your intellectual property strategy.