NEW YORK (Legal Newsline) – Trump Your Competition, a Nevada sales consulting firm fighting to preserve its name against opposition from Presidential candidate Donald Trump, has appealed a federal court order that said Trump does not have to testify in the matter.
On Jan. 6, U.S. District Judge Alvin Hellerstein ruled Trump Your Competition didn't identify any information that it seeks from a deposition of Trump that would be relevant to the dispute between the two.
Trump objected to the company’s name in 2014 after the company reapplied for the name’s registration. An oversight had led to its expiration in 2011.
On Jan. 19, attorneys for Trump Your Competition filed a notice to appeal the decision to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit in New York City.
“Mr. Trump cannot avoid his obligation to appear to give testimony concerning his opposition to TYC’s registration on the basis of his ‘high-profile, high-level’ status,” says TYC’s original motion to compel Trump’s deposition, filed in December.
“TYC acknowledges that Mr. Trump is running for the office of President of the United States. But Presidents themselves – let alone presidential candidates – are not above the law.”
Trump, the frontrunner for the Republican nomination after a Super Tuesday in which he won seven states, believes the Trump Your Competition mark should not be approved by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office because it would be confused by the names of many of his business entities that feature the Trump name.
Trump’s attorney called the motion to compel his deposition “clear harassment,” court records show. Instead, he prefers to send his son Eric to be deposed in his place.
On Jan. 4, Trump filed a declaration with the court. It says he has delegated full responsibility for Trump trademarks to Alan Garten, executive vice president and general counsel at TrumpOrg.