Gregory v. United Parcel Service
In 2018, a UPS employee, Carol Gregory, created a card, showing himself in a brown UPS uniform and standing beside a brown UPS delivery truck, each displaying the UPS brown and yellow logo. He used the card while distributing campaign literature criticizing UPS for its posture in collective bargaining with the union. UPS threatened to sue Gregory for trademark infringement and dilution, citing its trademark rights both in its logo and in its “trade dress” of brown and yellow colors. Public Citizen represents Gregory in a suit seeking a declaratory judgment that his use of the logo and colors are fair use and, in any event, that his use is protected by the First Amendment because it is non-commercial speech that truthfully identifies him as a UPS employee.