“Proud Boys” No More: Far Right Group Loses Trademark To a Black Church They Vandalized

Claire Kuo

On December 12, 2020, a month prior to January 6, there was a smaller rally that took place in Washington D.C. The Proud Boys, a far right group, led a “night march” through downtown. When they reached the Metropolitan African Methodist Episcopal Church (Metropolitan AME Church), a historic Black church, they destroyed a large Black Lives Matter poster displayed outside.[1] According to the Church’s complaint, members of the group jumped over the fence onto the Church’s property before they broke down the zip ties holding the sign in place, tore it down, and began stomping on it.[2]

 

Following the march, the court sued for damages and was awarded $2.8 million.[3] When the Proud Boys failed to make payments, the Church’s lawyers brought suit to enforce the judgment, specifically targeting the trademark. At that point, Proud Boys chapters were using the trademark in their “ongoing marketing, recruitment, and other activities, without paying a cent of royalties.”[4] The church argued that royalties collected for use of the trademark could be directed to fulfilling the judgement.

 

After Proud Boys International (PBI) was served, notifying them of the Church’s plea for enforcement, PBI and The Van Dyke Organization (an affiliate) filed a request with the USPTO to surrender the registration of the Proud Boys Trademark.[5] Consequently, the current status of Van Dyke’s registration on the USPTO page is “cancelled.” The Church believed this was an attempt to hinder enforcement of the judgment. As such, their primary request for relief in this following action was for a declaration that PBI and The Van Dyke Organization be declared owners of the trademark. However, as the Church pointed out in their complaint, under the trademark regime in the United States, registration does not directly correlate to ownership. There remain some rights over non-registered marks under common law.[6]

 

Ultimately, PBI failed to respond to the complaint in time. Instead of declaring PBI and Van Dyke the owners of the trademark, the D.C. Superior Court entered default judgment and granted the church control of the “Proud Boys” trademark.[7] The judge also found that the Church was entitled to all of PBI’s interests in the trademark, a lien on the trademark, and injunctive relief to enjoin PBI from any sale, transfer, disposition, or license of the trademark.[8]

 

As a trademark owner, the Church is now legally entitled to control where the trademark “Proud Boys” is used. This means that any use of the trademark now has to be with the Church’s consent in order to be lawful. This is likely to have practical implications for the Proud Boys group. The Proud Boys had often appeared at events wearing “polo shirts, hoodies, caps, and other clothing” with the trademark. However, they are now barred from selling merchandise with the name or symbols without the Church’s consent. The church can try to seize money made from selling the merchandise and, as alluded to previously, collect royalties on the use of the trademark.

 

The Church has already begun to make use of the trademark. In a live stream by Reverend Lamar, the pastor of the Church, they are currently selling “limited edition” t-shirts with the far-right group’s logo. However, they have reclaimed the slogan so that it now says “Stay Proud, Stay Black” on one shirt, and “Stay Proud, Black Lives Matter” on the other. To complete the comeuppance, the proceeds will go to the Church’s community justice fund.[9]

 

[1]Metro. African Methodist Episcopal Church v. Proud Boys Int’l., LLC, No. 2021-CA-000004-B (D.C. Super. Ct. June 21, 1985).

[2]Id.

[3]Black church in DC that was vandalized by the Proud Boys gains control over the group’s trademark, Assᴏᴄɪᴀᴛᴇᴅ Pʀᴇss (Feb. 5 2025, 2:39PM), https://apnews.com/article/proud-boys-trademark-church-jan-6-enrique-tarrio-de927b297eaf45df048771a5d52199eb.

[4]Complaint at 7, Metro. African Methodist Episcopal Church v. Proud Boys Int’l., LLC, No. CAB-2024-004147 (D.C. Super. Ct. July 2, 2024).

[5]Id at 4.

[6]trademark owner, Legal Information Institute, https://www.law.cornell.edu/wex/trademark_owner.

[7]D.C. Super. Ct. R. Order and Default Judgment Against Proud Boys Int’l, LLC (Feb. 3, 2025, Feb. 3, 2025).

[8]Id.

[9]Meagan Jordan, Black Church Already Selling Proud Boys-Style Merch After Winning Trademark, Rᴏʟʟɪɴɢ Sᴛᴏɴᴇ (Feb. 12, 2025), https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/politics-features/proud-boys-trademark-black-church-shirts-1235265640/.