LNC Beats Luccini in Court, Then Tries to Surrender Anyway

LPNM Chair Dereck Scott discusses trademark litigation.

A federal court found the LNC likely to win its trademark case outright, on all four factors. Two months later, LNC leadership sent its New Mexico affiliate a demand letter.

The affiliate's chair, Dereck Scott confirmed to LNC News that his board has been filed with the court, but that he never received a copy from them. Instead, the LNC again sent him Luccini's requests. He says they repeatedly ask whether he will accept Luccini's terms: "While we remain fully committed to working constructively with the LNC," Scott said, "the terms requested contradict both our party bylaws and the clear findings of the June 17 injunction." He pointed to the court's order finding the LNC "makes a strong showing of irreparable injury by Luchini's group's continued use of the trademark," and that the Free New Mexico Party is the "LNC's affiliate." "It makes little sense to agree to demands that abandon a clear legal victory or force us to act outside our governing rules," he said, "but we welcome any reasonable proposal that aligns with both."

A disclosure pulled from the public list

Days after the court finding, LNC member Keith Thompson posted a message to the party's public discussion list, disclosing a personal relationship with Luchini and his counsel and asking what direction the board plans on taking its negotiations.

Chair McMahon replied: "This is a confidential legal matter and is not for the public list," and pulled the thread from the public list without explaining what made a public conflict of interest disclosure confidential. Region 1 Representative Austin Martin restored the thread to the public list and warned McMahon that using confidentiality to suppress a governance question could lead to legal actions. McMahon told him he lacked the authority to overrule the confidentiality designation and called the move "out of order." Third Party Watch later reconstructed the exchange.

The merger proposal

That thread included a merger proposal. Thompson's opening message had already noted the Luchini group's roughly 14,000 members against LPNM's much smaller base. The argument being the larger group could sweep officer elections at the next convention regardless of whose bylaws formally survived, so it would make sense to enact a preemptive merger.

Martin objected on procedural grounds, arguing a board member should not be shaping negotiating terms during active litigation. Doing so, he warned, "risks surrendering the leverage the court just handed us."

Martin also mentioned Luchini's own acknowledgment of coordinating with the New Mexico Secretary of State's office. That office, he said, worked to keep LPNM off the ballot, deny it the presidential line, and block it from using the party's name. He noted that the Secretary of State withdrew from her campaign for Lieutenant Governor the day after the ruling.

One offer had already gone to a vote on June 9 and again on June 11, as we reported in "New Mexico Squeezed". The offer would have dissolved LPNM into the group the court would go on to flag for infringement, and installed Scott as a subordinate co-chair. A familiar pattern by now. Nothing in the injunction required that outcome. The offer predated the ruling in substance, and both votes on it came before the injunction was even handed down.

Chair Scott said his board never had room to agree: "Our board was clear throughout discussions that our bylaws simply do not permit a 'co-chair' structure," he said, "so we could not agree to terms that violate our core governance. Our goal has always been stability and compliance with our rules, which the court ultimately validated."

Eighty thousand encumbered

On August 9, the LNC's Executive Committee voted to encumber $80,000 from its Legal Proactive budget line. Forty thousand of that went to the New Mexico trademark litigation, restricted to "current legal bills" and the costs of "mediation and settlement of the matter." The other forty thousand went to the newly authorized McArdle litigation. Weeks after the injunction, the LNC was still funding a mediation track in New Mexico, though the motion did not specify what position that funding was backing.

On August 24, McMahon confirmed on the LNC's public discussion list that a letter had gone out, restating "our original demands and positions." The letter itself has not been made public.

By Scott's account, whatever it contains likely still doesn't square with what the LNC actually won in court. He is unaware of what the LNC is asking for in the current round of mediation. Scott left no doubt, though, about how his own party reads the court ruling: "The court's ruling made it clear to any objective observer that our organization represents the legitimate and proper user of the Libertarian Party trademark, and we fully agree with the judge's decision," he said. He added that his group "strongly encourage[s] the LNC to support the FNMP and respect the court's order." Scott remains "open to any reasonable offer, particularly one that respects our bylaws and honors the spirit of our legal victory."

LNC News covers the governance and internal affairs of the Libertarian National Committee. Submissions can be sent to LNCnews.submissions@gmail.com.