Looks like infringement of trademark, not of copyright.
It might be protected speech, but I suspect that Bitcoin Magazine isn't consulting a lawyer as much as they should.
> > “The Federal Reserve has extensively used and promoted the FEDNOW mark and has built up substantial goodwill in this invaluable asset. Financial institutions and consumers associate the FEDNOW mark with the Federal Reserve and its services.”
> An interesting point. For starters, what goodwill has the Federal Reserve built up? Have you seen the state of the working class today? Perhaps you have already forgotten how Fed policy directly led to mismanaged bond portfolios in regional banks across the country, such as Silicon Valley Bank, Signature, Silvergate or First Republic? Perhaps you have already forgotten about the historic inflation rates seen throughout the U.S. since government-imposed lockdowns all but forced the Treasury’s hand to stimulate the economy to the tune of trillions of dollars?
> There is no goodwill, Mr. Murphy. And certainly not substantial goodwill either.
Edit to add: there is an actual legal reply by an actual lawyer, to which you can assign your own value.
>Have you seen the state of the working class today?
is a better response in their minds than pointing out that FedNow has only really been around since the end of July, relatively few people are aware of it (AFAIK), and financial institutions are not going to confuse the Federal Reserve and a magazine. It's not about the Fed's goodwill, it's about the goodwill associated with the FedNow trademark, but they seem to think inflation is a counterargument.
Personally, I would have gone with "FED NO" on the shirts or included the "The digital panopticon is here" tagline on them.
The Fed is why America can send pieces of papers and bits and receive trillions of dollars worth of goods and services. Thanks to this, Americans have the highest average disposable incomes in the world and the highest median income in the world behind a tiny tax haven. If Americans aren't able to benefit from this, they have no one to blame but themselves or the other parts of government.
[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Disposable_household_and_per_c...
Next year, and every year forward, arguably in part because of the Fed, America will be able to receive less dollars in goods and services for the same agreement,
due to US' objectively-falling creditworthiness, as rated by the large institutions and nations who are willing to lend to us.
We'll see what private financial institution gigs he parachutes into after his current role.
From another comment: Ben Bernanke now serves on the board of two of them (Citadel, PIMCO). And Alan Greenspan serves on three (Deutsche Bank, PIMCO, Paulson & Co).
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Copyright_status_of_works_by...
Yes, yes it does.
Reading the Fed's C&D, their complaint is about the trademark, not copyright. The magazine's lawyer's response is also about trademark, not copyright. The author of this article isn't as familiar with the law as the lawyers are.
When you're being sued, you should be careful about what you say about that, especially what you put in writing, and publish globally.
So I think this is one example of them not consulting a lawyer enough.
And, their lawyer's response is pretty decent. I think that there's lots wrong with everything cryptocurrency, but their shirt looks like a rock solid parody.
The Federal Reserve is about as federal as Federal Express.
[0]: https://www.frbsf.org/education/publications/doctor-econ/200...
The Federal Reserve is in effect a consortium of banks acting as an independent central bank more so than a government entity.
> The Fed is independent in the sense that monetary policy and related decisions are made autonomously and are not subject to approval by the federal government. [0]
It isn't just insulated, it is independent. The Federal Reserve's shareholders are the member banks, not the public.
> Federal Reserve Banks' stock is owned by banks, never by individuals. Federal law requires national banks to be members of the Federal Reserve System and to own a specified amount of the stock of the Reserve Bank in the Federal Reserve district where they are located. [1]
Federal Express, too, is subject to similar government oversight being a publicly traded private corporation.
[0]: https://www.investopedia.com/articles/investing/041515/why-f.... [1]: https://www.cga.ct.gov/PS95/rpt/olr/htm/95-R-1200.htm#:~:tex....
Banks are involved with the regional Federal Reserve Banks. But the Federal Reserve Banks are controlled by the Federal Reserve and have pretty minor powers.
Sure they don't. That's why Ben Bernanke now serves on the board of two of them (Citadel, PIMCO). And Alan Greenspan serves on three (Deutsche Bank, PIMCO, Paulson & Co).
If you've never heard of PIMCO, it is the investment bank that advises central banks on their policies and investments, including the Federal Reserve. But banks have no involvement, of course.
> PIMCO is one of the largest investment managers, actively managing more than $2 trillion in assets for central banks, sovereign wealth funds, pension funds, corporations, foundations and endowments, and individual investors around the world. [0]