Humane Society says Pork Assessment Funds Being Illegally Used to Lobby
The Humane Society filed a challenge Sept. 24 of the National Pork Board’s use of “checkoff” producer assessments collected from pork producers and importers, alleging that the 2006 purchase of the “Pork: The Other White Meat” trademark constitutes a gift from the Pork Board to the National Pork Producers Council that is being used to frustrate Humane Society initiatives. The Pork Board is paying $3 million over 20 years for the trademark, contributing as much as 32 percent of the NPPC’s budget, the Humane Society said. The payments allow the Pork Board and the NPPC to evade federal restrictions against the use of pork checkoff dollars for purposes of influencing legislation and government policy, it said.
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According to the complaint, which was filed with the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, the “Other White Meat” campaign was paid for entirely from Pork Board producer assessments from its inception in 1986. Although the NPCC ran the marketing campaign as an independent contractor, the Pork Board, a quasi-governmental entity overseen by the Agriculture Department, contributed over $500 million in assessments. When the Pork Board and NPCC were “separated” as a result of an Agriculture Department Inspector General report, the NPCC claimed sole ownership of the Other White Meat trademark and retained the registration for the associated marks, the Humane Society said. At first, the NPCC licensed the trademark to the Pork Board at a rate of one dollar per year.
In 2004, the Pork Board agreed to raise the annual fee to $818,000. In a message to the president of the Pork Board about the agreement, Pork Board CEO Steve Murphy said the increase would “allow the NPCC to get the money they need for the next four years,” the Humane Society said.
The Pork Board then agreed to buy the trademark in 2006 for $60 million dollars (including interest), to be paid in $3 million yearly installments over 20 years. But according to the Humane Society, the trademark should have been treated as government property to begin with because of a regulation requiring that any trademarks developed through the use of assessment funds be property of the U.S. government.
In 2011, the Pork Board created a new marketing campaign, “Pork: Be Inspired.” The “Other White Meat” slogan was no longer used in advertising. However, despite a clause that allowed the Pork Board to terminate the agreement for any reason, the Pork Board continued the payments, the Humane Society said.
The Humane Society alleged that the funds have been used by NPCC to lobby against Humane Society campaigns against gestation crates, which are “narrow metal cages so small that sows are not able even to turn around.” The NPCC also used the funds to prevent passage of a bill, supported by the Humane Society, to provide “improvements in the living conditions for the nation’s egg-laying hens,” among other things, the Humane Society said.
The Humane Society requested that the court, among other things: (1) declare the expenditures of checkoff funds to be illegal; (2) set aside the approval and expenditures of checkoff funds and order the Agriculture Department to recover the already distributed funds from the NPPC; and (3) enjoin the Agriculture Department from any further authorizations or expenditures of checkoff funds related to the “Other White Meat” trademarks.
Email documents@brokerpower.com for a copy of the complaint.