Students Sue School District In Trademark Fight Over Racial Justice Podcast Name

Black students in Denver are suing the faculty district, stating it is hoping to “steal” their podcast title “Know Justice, Know Peace.”

The lawsuit states the college students, who created the racial justice podcast “Know Justice, Know Peace” subsequent George Floyd’s murder in 2020, manufactured “an immediate hit” that obtained the awareness of media stores which include the “Today” exhibit, The Denver Submit documented.

The group — composed of four Black latest and former pupils at Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Early Higher education — sued Denver Community Colleges in federal court on Monday. The district filed a few trademark purposes, such as a person state software and two federal apps, for the title, in accordance to the lawsuit.

A Colorado trademark registration referenced in reporting by Chalkbeat Colorado reveals the district described the sequence as “offering information about inequities in the instructional program [and] supplying answers for utilizing, bettering, [and] sustaining equity.”

The lawsuit described an irony in the district’s energy to trademark the name.

“The irony of DPS’s makes an attempt … is that DPS has for several years fallen way limited on Black history, racial justice and instruction all-around these vital troubles,” the lawsuit stated. “That their freshly discovered and noticeably tardy need to handle racial problems experienced to occur in this variety is a sad commentary on the state of DPS.”

A spokesperson for Denver General public Educational institutions, immediately after initially not supplying remark “due to the pending litigation,” explained to HuffPost that the district appears to be like forward to the lawful method and “clearing up any misinformation that is in the complaint.”

“It is unfortunate that Mr. Jeffrey Kass [the student’s attorney] has misrepresented the points and legislation in an endeavor to thrust the narrative that DPS did anything other than assert its legal rights by way of the lawful system,” the spokesperson wrote.

“We are disappointed that we had been unable to come to a mutually agreeable resolution with these pupils, and we continue to be open up to further discussions.”

District Deputy Superintendent Anthony Smith satisfied with pupils and their mom and dad in an hard work to “coerce and bully” them into stating the district owned the trademark, according to the lawsuit.

“Notably, it is your customers who are liable for trademark infringement,” the district’s lawyer explained in a letter to the students’ attorney.

Chalkbeat documented that an attorney for the district despatched a letter in August to previous principal Kimberly Grayson, who was concerned in the podcast’s generation, regarding her registration of a organization named “Know Justice, Know Peace: The Choose LLC.”

The letter, which Chalkbeat said it acquired by a public information request, stated the identify belonged to Denver General public Schools and explained the podcast as manufactured with district products on its house.

Grayson explained in an email to district team acquired by Chalkbeat that she registered the company for the reason that she experienced remaining the college and the learners required to record the podcast independently.

She wrote that the district was contradicting by itself for expressing its stance on fairness although also stating it “OWNS four Black young ladies’ impression, voice, and material,” according to Chalkbeat.