Raskin Calls Trump’s Abandonment of BOARD OF PEACE Trademarks ‘Necessary Course Correction”

The United States government, on behalf of President Donald Trump, abandoned its application to register the trademark BOARD OF PEACE on July 3, after filing an express abandonment, according to U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) documents.

The application was a source of controversy earlier this year, when Representative Jamie Raskin (D-MD), Ranking Member of the House Judiciary Committee, sent a letter to USPTO Director John Squires pressing him to answer questions about the Office’s role in filing the trademark application on behalf of the Trump Administration.

The Board of Peace was formally established in January 2026, following the ceasefire brokered with Gaza in late 2025, and includes 28 founding member countries. According to a White House statement, the Board represents “another pivotal step forward in realizing President Trump’s vision of transforming Gaza from a region plagued by conflict and despair into one defined by opportunity, hope, and vitality.”

Raskin had questioned Squires directly about the applications during the House Judiciary Committee’s Subcommittee on Courts, Intellectual Property, Artificial Intelligence, and the Internet oversight hearing of the USPTO in March, and Squires responded that he acted pursuant to his authority under both 35 U.S.C. § 2 and 35 U.S.C. § 3 in advising the President on national IP policy issues and acting as a custodian for trademark rights to prevent fraud. Squires also noted that the applications were intent-to-use filings that would expire if no bona fide intent to use the mark arose.

In his opening remarks to the hearing, Raskin said the USPTO’s actions in filing those trademark applications were “the first step in giving Trump and his subordinates a monopoly in our country on use of the word ‘peace,’” further raising charges under the Emoluments Clause due to Board of Peace investments from foreign governments and private entities.

Raskin issued a statement today calling the Board of Peace a “Trump-led slush fund” and welcoming the decision to abandon the marks. Raskin said:

“The USPTO’s decision to abandon its disturbing trademark applications for the ‘Board of Peace’ is a welcome and necessary course correction. From the start, the USPTO’s Director’s baffling and unprecedented decision to apply for trademarks for President Trump raised serious concerns about its legality given that the Lanham Act forbids applications on behalf of another person unless you are their lawyer, which the Director specifically denied….

“I pressed Director Squires repeatedly—in letters and under oath before the Judiciary Committee—to explain why the USPTO was acting as an extralegal custodian for Trump’s Board of Peace, stepping in as the Board’s agent to apply for a trademark on the Board’s behalf. No explanation ever came. USPTO’s role is to issue legitimate trademarks—not to apply for them on behalf of shadowy global slush funds. This inevitable retreat confirms what was clear all along: USPTO had no legal basis to stand in as a straw trademark holder for this shady scheme.”

The Board of Peace has received much criticism in recent months, with claims that it is attempting to replace the United Nations, questions about its financial fund, and a lack of clarity about leadership.

Raskin also vowed in his statement to continue oversight and investigation into the Board.