A challenge filed in District Court over the right of the government to use trademarks obtained by the V.I. Carnival Committee was settled this week by a judge’s ruling. The lawsuit at the heart of the dispute was filed in March 2022, three years after management of the annual fete was turned over to the V.I. Tourism Department.
A March 31 judgment issued by Chief District Judge Robert Molloy declared that past and present Tourism officials did not violate the Carnival Committee’s constitutional rights. Committee representatives claimed the government violated their Fifth Amendment rights by taking property — trademarked labeling, vendor lists, application forms, and materials kept in the committee’s office — without compensation.
Molloy also rejected claims that the trademarked labels “St. Thomas Carnival” and “Virgin Islands Carnival” were violated by Tourism officials Joseph Boschulte, Ian Turnbull and Halvor Hart when they chose different — but similar — identifiers. As an additional step, the judge ordered the clerk of the court to order the director of the U.S. Patent Office to cancel those trademarked labels.
At the time the lawsuit was filed, VICC Chair Edgar Baker Phillips claimed that use of similar identifiers for Carnival violated the Lanham Act, which protects trademarked materials against infringement, dilution, false advertising, and unfair competition. Attempts to reach Baker Phillips for comment on the March 31 judgment were unsuccessful.
The V.I. Carnival Committee served as the organizing and management entity for St. Thomas Carnival formally and informally since the annual fete was revived in 1952. Lawmakers of the 32nd Legislature passed Bill No. 32-0308, creating the Division of Festivals within the Tourism Department.
The measure was signed into law by then-Gov. Kenneth Mapp in January 2019.
