The White House Gift Shop is selling coronavirus commemorative coins now

[mahatmakanejeeves]

53. Joe.My.God. has edited his original thread with some important information about the WHGS.

CORRECTION: Outfit Selling $100 “Historic COVID-19 Coins” Is No Longer Formally Connected To The WH
April 29, 2020

From the [not] official site of the White House gift shop:

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IMPORTANT UPDATE:

After my post went up and we noticed more misspellings in the offerings, I became suspicious and it turns out that in 2018 Talking Points Memo went to through great lengths to find out the truth about the White House Gift Shop.

The history of the Gift Shop goes back to a service organization affiliated with the US Secret Service. As recently as a decade ago it was run by the United States Secret Service Uniformed Division Benefit Fund. But on December 27th, 2011 the UDBF signed a contract with Giannini Strategic Enterprises to take over the Gift Shop business and run it on the UDBF’s behalf. In essence, the UDBF licensed GSE to run their store on its behalf.

Oncce Giannini was gifted the Gift Shop he went to the US Patent and Trademark Office to trademark the name White House Gift Shop. From what I can tell his initial application was rejected on the pretty straightforward argument that it gave the false impression that it was part of the White House.

Giannini made a counter argument that there were other trademark holders with the phrase “white house” in their title (though those don’t suggest any connection to the Executive Office of the President) and that, contrary to the Trademark office’s claim, the actual White House (the governmental institution) was in fact connected to the company. The Trademark office bought this argument and issued the trademark. It seems to be the only trademark in existence specifically referencing a relationship to the White House.

Bottom line: The White House Gift Shop owns the federally sanctioned trademark on its name but is NOT actually connected to the White House any longer.

http://www.geektools.com/whois.php

Checking server [whois.crsnic.net]

Checking server [whois.tucows.com]
Results:
Domain Name: WHITEHOUSEGIFTSHOP.COM
Registry Domain ID: 9396776_DOMAIN_COM-VRSN
Registrar WHOIS Server: whois.tucows.com
Registrar URL: http://tucowsdomains.com
Updated Date: 2017-09-05T13:20:09
Creation Date: 1999-08-23T18:59:09
Registrar Registration Expiration Date: 2027-08-23T18:59:09
Registrar: TUCOWS, INC.
Registrar IANA ID: 69
Reseller: Hover
Domain Status: clientTransferProhibited https://icann.org/epp#clientTransferProhibited
Domain Status: clientUpdateProhibited https://icann.org/epp#clientUpdateProhibited
Registry Registrant ID:
Registrant Name: Contact Privacy Inc. Customer 0146830340
Registrant Organization: Contact Privacy Inc. Customer 0146830340
Registrant Street: 96 Mowat Ave
Registrant City: Toronto
Registrant State/Province: ON
Registrant Postal Code: M6K 3M1
Registrant Country: CA
Registrant Phone: [phone]
Registrant Phone Ext:
Registrant Fax:
Registrant Fax Ext:
Registrant Email: [e-mail]
Registry Admin ID:
Admin Name: Contact Privacy Inc. Customer 0146830340
Admin Organization: Contact Privacy Inc. Customer 0146830340
Admin Street: 96 Mowat Ave
Admin City: Toronto
Admin State/Province: ON
Admin Postal Code: M6K 3M1
Admin Country: CA
Admin Phone: [phone]
Admin Phone Ext:
Admin Fax:
Admin Fax Ext:
Admin Email: [e-mail]
Registry Tech ID:
Tech Name: Contact Privacy Inc. Customer 0146830340
Tech Organization: Contact Privacy Inc. Customer 0146830340
Tech Street: 96 Mowat Ave
Tech City: Toronto
Tech State/Province: ON
Tech Postal Code: M6K 3M1
Tech Country: CA
Tech Phone: [phone]
Tech Phone Ext:
Tech Fax:
Tech Fax Ext:
Tech Email: [e-mail]
Name Server: ns1.volusion.com
Name Server: ns2.volusion.com
Name Server: ns3.volusion.com
Name Server: ns4.volusion.com
DNSSEC: unsigned
Registrar Abuse Contact Email: [e-mail]
Registrar Abuse Contact Phone: [phone]
URL of the ICANN WHOIS Data Problem Reporting System: http://wdprs.internic.net/
>>> Last update of WHOIS database: 2020-04-29T18:53:56Z <<<

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