<blockquote style="margin: 0pt 0pt 0pt 0.8ex; border-left: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); padding-left: 1ex;" class="gmail_quote">DENVER - The trade name claim filed on Thursday to lock down the rights to the phrase "Occupy Denver" has been withdrawn.<br>
<br>According to a filing on Saturday morning with Secretary of State's office, the attorney who had filed the original claim withdrew.<br><br>9NEWS first reported on this story on Friday.<br><br>The trade name claim didn't come from movement organizers, but from the address of a law firm run by a prominent supporter of Gov. John Hickenlooper and Denver Mayor Michael Hancock.<br>
<br>Hickenlooper and Hancock have been strongly criticized by Occupy Denver protestors for their handling of the weeks-long encampment in downtown Denver.<br><br>"It struck me as strange," Occupy Denver protestor Jason Roth said. "I doubt that it's a coincidence because of the connection between these people and our elected representatives."<br>
<br>The filing came from the office of Bookhardt and O'Toole, a law firm specializing in municipal bond work. The firm's founding partner is Dawn Bookhardt, one of five transition committee co-chairs for Hancock and a high-profile Hickenlooper supporter who donated just short of the maximum amount to his 2010 gubernatorial campaign.<br>
<br>"Wow. That's interesting," a protestor who asked to be identified as JJ said. "I don't want to be a conspiracy theorist or anything, but that seems like something Hickenlooper would do to undermine this movement, to undermine what we're trying to fight for here."<br>
<br>Hancock declined comment Friday.<br><br>Roth says Occupy Denver organizers hadn't filed for trade name protection because they had other priorities.<br><br>"We've been in fair use of that name for at least three weeks now," Roth said. "If a corporate lawyer were to come down here and say cease and desist, do not use 'Occupy Denver,' I think our legal team would be in court fairly quickly."<br>
<br>The filing by Bookhardt & O'Toole attorney Mike Schneider only states that the filer "transacts business of contemplates transacting business" under the name Occupy Denver, describing the business as "Educational Forums."<br>
<br>By email, Schneider declined to comment on the filing to 9Wants to Know investigator Kyle Clark. He later emailed to say the trade name statement was not related to Bookhardt and O'Toole.<br><br>Dawn Bookhardt says Schneider's actions were "unauthorized."<br>
<br>"My understanding is that he did it on his own," Bookhardt said by phone. "Frankly, I'm stunned."<br><br>Bookhardt says Schneider was "in trouble" for using the firm's time, resources and address to file a trade name claim for personal use. She denied her firm is trying to undercut Occupy Denver.<br>
<br>"Typical. That's what corporate America is all about," protestor Cameron Kelly, who joined the protest during a visit to Colorado from New York, said.<br><br>"I think people have put two and two and two together and they're seeing that we're getting screwed," Kelly said, turning to a 9NEWS photojournalist. "Can you say that on TV?"<br>
<br><br><br><br><br clear="all"></blockquote><br>-- <br>Sandwichman<br>
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