Conservative comedian Steven Crowder has launched a lawsuit against the cable news channel CNN and online media company Jubilee for allegedly infringing on his trademark protection over his Change My Mind segment. The suit was filed in the United States District Court for the Northern District of Texas on Monday, 19 October.
CNN, in collaboration with Jubilee, did air a debate segment with Democratic Senate candidate for Texas James Talarico under the title Change My Mind on 14 October 2026. Steven Crowder debuted his Change My Mind segment on his show Louder with Crowder in February 2018. He secured federal trademark protection for the name of his segment in January 2020—these are the undeniable facts of the case.
Will it be enough for Crowder and his team to secure a judgment against CNN and Jubilee for using his trademark? That is very questionable.
However, it is still ironic how multiple CNN anchors praised the creative originality of their town hall with a new format, without any of them mentioning that they are using the title another media company used for a very similar segment.
Why I’m Suing CNN, Jubilee, & James Talarico
CNN and Jubilee hosted James Talarico for a town hall featuring a segment that looked VERY familiar. During the lead-up, CNN used the phrase “Change My Mind” ten times. Then came the branding, the format, and a whole lot of praise for this supposedly original concept…
Steven Crowder’s legal counsel will still have a number of major challenges to overcome before they can get to a judgment or a settlement.
The first issue working against them is the Descriptive Trademarks vs Arbitrary Trademarks vs Fanciful Trademarks theory in the application of American trademark law.
Arbitrary marks, such as ‘Change My Mind’ or KFC’s ‘It’s Finger-Lickin’ Good’, are phrases used in common English, and their common English meaning is directly related to the nature of the product they refer to (as opposed to ‘Arbitrary Trademarks’); thus, their trademark protection depends entirely on the context of their usage. Fanciful marks are words or phrases with no dictionary definition prior to the filing of the trademark; words invented entirely by the company, such as Google or Exxon. These typically receive automatic trademark protection by the courts if used in a commercial context.
In fact, descriptive trademarks typically have the weakest protection in US courts among the three types.
The defendants in the suit can simply argue that they were using the term ‘change my mind’ in its general, common English sense, as opposed to an overt reference to Steven Crowder’s trademarked segment to exploit consumer confusion.
The plaintiffs, on the other hand, are appealing to a principle called ‘trademark dilution’, which protects famous brands from having the distinctiveness or reputation of their mark weakened by unauthorized use, even if consumers are not confused about who made it.
A still image of Steven Crowder sitting behind a table with a Change My Mind banner from the inaugural segment in February 2018 was a very popular internet meme for years, starting with the day Crowder shared the photo to promote the show.
This fact works against the plaintiffs, as for years, they took no legal action against ‘trademark dilution’ when thousands of users were sharing their own edits of the promotional image with the Change My Mind branding. However, they can argue that it was used in a different, still image format, as opposed to a live broadcast of a political debate, in which CNN and Jubilee used it.
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