Young America's Foundation v. Sitman

The Know Your Enemy podcast, billed as “a leftist’s guide to the conservative movement,” is an intellectual history podcast hosted by Adler-Bell and Sitman and promoted by Dissent magazine, an independent leftist publication. The podcast offers Patreon memberships that include different listener privileges. The lowest membership tier, akin to a student discount membership, is labeled “Young Americans for Freedom.” The two more premium membership tiers, the “West Coast Straussians” and the “John Birchers,” also refer to prominent conservative movement groups. These ironic references are consistent with the podcast’s overarching theme of examining conservative movement groups, i.e., the “enemy”, from a leftist perspective.

Young America’s Foundation, which asserts ownership over the Young Americans for Freedom trademarks, sued the Know Your Enemy podcast hosts and Dissent magazine in the U.S. District for the Eastern District of Virginia, alleging federal trademark infringement, trademark counterfeiting, and common law unfair business competition. The complaint seeks preliminary and permanent injunctions barring all further use of the Young Americans for Freedom trademarks, disgorgement of profits, treble damages, and punitive damages, as well as the transfer to Young Americans for Freedom of all websites and social media accounts using the allegedly infringing marks.

On behalf of the podcast hosts and Dissent magazine, the ACLU, the ACLU of Virginia and firm co-counsel filed a motion to dismiss, arguing that the ironic reference to Young Americans for Freedom on the podcast’s Patreon page is protected by the trademark fair use doctrine and the First Amendment; that potential listeners are not likely to be confused about whether conservative groups like Young Americans for Freedom sponsor or support the Know Your Enemy podcast; that the complaint does not allege any illicit counterfeiting; and that the state law claims are subject to dismissal under Virginia’s statute barring strategic lawsuits against public participation (SLAPPs).