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If thousands of American ever die in another domestic attack by terrorists–I’ll optimistically use the “if”–one of the culprits will be the Washington bureaucracy created to spare us further grief.

Dimwits in D.C. have turned the Homeland Security Department loose on so-called intellectual property offenders. Doesn’t “Security” have more pressing things to do? How wacky are the priorities of the Bush White House, or at least their people running “Security”! Even John Kerry, beneficiary of millions in political donations from the IP interests, probably wouldn’t be this stupid. Whether or not the toystore infringed, is the department the one to safeguard patents, trademarks and copyrights?

Here are details from AP via the Miami Herald:

So far as she knows, Pufferbelly Toys owner Stephanie Cox hasn’t been passing any state secrets to sinister foreign governments, or violating obscure clauses in the Patriot Act.

So she was taken aback by a mysterious phone call from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security to her small store in this quiet Columbia River town just north of Portland.

“I was shaking in my shoes,” Cox said of the September phone call. “My first thought was the government can shut your business down on a whim, in my opinion. If I’m closed even for a day that would cause undue stress.”

When the two agents arrived at the store, the lead agent asked Cox whether she carried a toy called the Magic Cube, which he said was an illegal copy of the Rubik’s Cube, one of the most popular toys of all time.

He told her to remove the Magic Cube from her shelves, and he watched to make sure she complied.

After the agents left, Cox called the manufacturer of the Magic Cube, the Toysmith Group, which is based in Auburn, Wash. A representative told her that Rubik’s Cube patent had expired, and the Magic Cube did not infringe on the rival toy’s trademark…

Reminder: TeleRead is a news and advocacy site for well-stocked national digital libraries, not a pro- or anti-Bush site. I’m hoping that loyal Bush supporters will protest the above stupidies. Since when is IP within Homeland Security’s logical mission? Perhaps the laws setting up the department will allow threats against toyshops, at least when patents, trademarks and copyrights are actually infringed against. But that doesn’t make it right. IP is worth protecting, but is the department the bureaucracy to do it?

Related: Homeland Security enforces trademark laws for expired trademark, in LISNews.

 
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