CatholicVote’s trademark fight raises troubling questions

(RNS) — There once was a time when it was only Catholic bishops in the business of denying organizations the right to call themselves Catholic. Now CatholicVote, an advocacy organization founded by the Trump administration’s current ambassador to the Holy See, Brian Burch, is in that business too. Or at least they want to prevent a rival organization from using the word “Catholic” with the word “vote.”

With a July 22 cease and desist letter sent to Catholics Vote Common Good, attorneys for CatholicVote have asserted that “the CATHOLICVOTE name and CATHOLICVOTE Mark are valuable assets of CatholicVote” and have asked the organization to “cease using the name ‘Catholics Vote Common Good.’”

The cease and desist may reflect an effort on the part of CatholicVote to use its trademark to clear away competition for voter support. While Catholics Vote Common Good pushes for affordable healthcare and housing, living wages, welcoming and humane immigration, environmental protections and combating threats to democracy among other policies, CatholicVote pushes for pro-life legislation, religious liberty, traditional marriage and parental rights to challenge LGBTQ material in public…