The DHS panty raid. We should fix this.
So, DHS had some agents go on a panty raid.
To put it another way:
MLB sought and received an injunction against a clothes manufacturer who was making underwear with a logo that came within the legal definition of infringement on the Royals' trademark. The injunction being granted, two agents went to the offending store to explain the situation and effect MLB's injuctive relief.
(And just to continue that point, the store owner herself was quoted saying the agents were very polite and professional. No guns were drawn; no panties were actually stolen.)
No guns were drawn, no threats were made. It wasn't even a criminal proceding, just the fallout of a civil case. This was just kind of an ordinary moment in trademark law. The problem is, these agents' paychecks are now signed by the Department of Homeland Security. So, how this story gets translated to the Washington Times is "Homeland Security Agents steal innocent Royals fans' Panties" or whatever.
Obviously it's stupid that the enforcement division of the USPTO is under DHS. That unit started under Commerce and belongs under Commerce in any sane system. But the fact of how the things worked out is that the creation of DHS was a way for everybody to shove every enforcement unit they knew of into this new department. So, everybody except for the FBI (who, arguably, most belongs there) got stuffed into DHS.
But I don't want to be doctrinaire about this. The intellectual property unit (ie, the "panty raiders"
should probably be back in Commerce. But counterfeiting and securities fraud probably do have a legitimate anti-terror brief: even if they're not in DHS whoever the overall terrorism "czar" is should be involved. I don't know. I'm not a fan of the DEA but the opiods trade does also have some legitimate anti-terror concerns. Where does one draw the line without having DHS do panty-raids?
