The Peter Anderson Story

Burning the Flag

As told to Mark Howell

Part 11

In last week’s episode, Secretary General of the Conch Republic Sir Peter Anderson laid out his business model of the Conch Republic, basically insisting that the Conch Republic was and is a country, not the property of any one person or persons. He says he successfully fought off any number of predators who tried to own the Conch Republic over the years.

He also described how he managed to get the entire Florida Keys included in the Conch Republic by virtue of a County Commission Resolution in 1994. His excitement over the Upper Keys deciding to celebrate the Conch Republic in 2007 turned to cold astonishment as they filed suit against him. This led to things getting really strange.

Anderson says a not-so-funny thing happens when you are sued. Suddenly you need to defend yourself or else the suing party wins by default. This means lawyers and money. If you cannot afford to defend yourself, the other side wins without firing a shot. Anderson says he was suddenly no longer in control of his own life or his work of almost 18 years. A very strange feeling indeed. Especially since he was the one who worked so hard to make the Upper Keys an official part of the Republic in the first place, thereby giving them the standing to sue him. An irony on the lines of “no good deed goes unpunished.”

Scared to death that all his hard work establishing the branding of the Conch Republic was going out the window of Largonian predators, he placed a panic call to his dear friend, Michael J. Rosen, Esq. in Coconut Grove.

Rosen, a criminal defense attorney by trade, had no grounding in intellectual property law but he did say to Anderson, “Mr. Secretary, we will defend the Republic first and worry about getting paid later.” Anderson says he breathed easy for the first time in days. (P.S., Rosen is still waiting…)

According to Anderson, there are three elements to the establishment and maintenance of ownership of intellectual property: Use, defense and primacy. Trademarks and copyrights are useless without these three elements.

When it came to the Conch Republic Independence Celebration, Anderson says all three elements were long established and that the defense of his business and work products in creating the branding around the Conch Republic should be a slam-dunk. After all, he had been the only one doing this work for 18 years.

Boy, was he in for a surprise. The Upper Keys Business Group (UKBG) filed a complaint for summary judgment in the Upper Keys Court, a complaint chock full of half-truths and outright misrepresentations.

And here is where it got painfully strange for the Secretary General. The daily newspaper repeated these falsehoods as if they were gospel truth. An Upper Keys reporter for the daily Key West newspaper wrote story after story describing Anderson in the most unflattering terms imaginable. “The self-appointed Secretary General, a Key West merchant … trying to own the Conch Republic.” The list of demeaning and misleading terms and descriptions flowed from this poison pen at every turn. In short, every possible way to discredit Anderson was explored and exploited.

Anderson wrote letters to the editor, some published, most not. He presented copies of his Proclamation by Mayor Tarracino as Secretary General. Nothing helped. Citizen editor Tom Tuell was out to crucify Anderson and Upper Keys reporter Steve Gibbs was batting for the “home team.”

Anderson says it is sage advice not to pick fights with people who buy ink by the barrel and paper by the ton. But what can you do if they decide all on their own to pick a fight with you?

Anderson’s reputation was in the process of being systematically and institutionally destroyed. Why?

Discreet inquires led the Secretary General to the conclusion that Editor Tom Tuell simply did not like him. A Marathon resident, Tuell evidently thought Key Westers were a bunch of weirdos, drunks, and fools.

Apparently Anderson epitomized these detested qualities to the editor. Anderson adds that it may well be true we are a bunch of weirdos, drunks and fools, but that’s exactly what makes us charming and so sought after by people driving right past the Upper Keys. Hemingway’s breakfast cocktail recipes explain a lot.

The Secretary General, who had worked so hard and diligently to unite the Keys as the Conch Republic, was devastated.

This went on for four long years.

The UKBG seceded from the Conch Republic, proclaimed the Northernmost Territories, even burned the Conch Republic flag while declaring war. On their website they posted a huge picture of an exploding hydrogen bomb, stating that their first attack had been very successful. So much for Anderson’s description of the Conch Republic as seeking only to bring more “Humor, Warmth and Respect” to the world… The Largonians would never actually “get it.”

Three years into this nightmare forced upon Anderson by the UKBG, a hearing was actually scheduled in Plantation Key. It was obvious from the beginning of the hearing that the judge was batting for the Upper Keys home team. In spite of material issues of fact (making summary judgment legally inappropriate), the judge granted summary judgment to the UKBG.

Anderson was beyond devastated. Twenty years of hard work was out the window. According to the judge, Anderson owned nothing of his business or work product. Anyone could come and poach any of it for their personal or business purposes. And did they ever. Products utilizing the Seal of Anderson’s office and other proprietary materials came out of the woodwork faster than a speeding bullet. Nothing was sacred anymore.

Anderson says he turned to his attorney and threatened to set up his gas grill in the back of his pickup truck in the Plantation Courthouse parking lot and start selling Big Mac’s. If he couldn’t own Conch Republic Independence Celebration, then McDonald’s couldn’t own “Big Mac.”

Rosen said, “Mr. Secretary, let’s just appeal his decision to the 3rd District Court of Appeals.”

Wise words. Sage advice.

At this point, Rosen had been appointed Attorney General. He enlisted the aid of Jay Solowsky, Esq. as his Deputy AG and they went to work. Almost a year later the 3rd DCA handed down a 17-page decision entirely in Anderson’s favor. The case was written up in the Law Review and publicized nationally. It was a landmark case in intellectual property law in that it established that one could own the branding without owning the brand. Use, defense and primacy rule.

Faced with the 3rd DCA’s opinion, the UKBG decided to finally come to the table. A mediation was scheduled and an agreement reached for the UKBG to come into compliance with the branding that had made the Conch Republic so loved around the world. The Conch Republic was formally reunited at a ceremony presided over by The Honorable Mike Puto, whom Anderson had long ago appointed as Governor General of the Middlemost Territories. We were all one country again.

“And no,” Anderson adds, the agreement did not provide for any money to him. He insists he has never been in this for the money.

Interestingly, Anderson says most people seem to have a very inaccurate perception of him. Apparently, people think that Anderson derives money from everything Conch Republic. Some, he says, have even expressed a certain jealousy over this perception. But nothing could be further from the truth.

True to Anderson’s first refusal to copyright and trademark the Conch Republic, no one pays Anderson any licensing fees of any kind unless they want to use the branding he has developed over the years. Anyone can be the “Conch Republic-anything” with no obligation to Anderson. He does own the word “Official” with regard to the Republic. If someone wants to be the “Official-whatever” of the Conch Republic, one needs to talk to the Secretary General. And Anderson does own the Conch Republic Passport, the sole source of income for his office.

Anderson says he may be an unbelievably stupid businessperson but if he had it all to do over again 25 years later, he would still defend the Conch Republic as a country — not a business owned by any one person.

“This is our country,” he says. “A country we can all be damn proud of.”

Next week: In Defense of Conchs.

[livemarket market_name="KONK Life LiveMarket" limit=3 category=“” show_signup=0 show_more=0]