Michelle Obama — whose husband, former President Barack Obama, said in a 2018 speech “There’s only so much you can eat. There’s only so big a house you can have. There’s only so many nice trips you can take. I mean, it’s enough” — got paid over $700,000 for a one-hour speech in Germany.
Michelle Obama spoke at a start-up event held near the annual Oktoberfest beer festival; the event’s webpage said roughly 5,000 people would hear her speak about how to “push past self-doubt while discussing the importance of inclusivity and diversity.” The organizers of the event said Michelle Obama “topped the list” of prospective speakers for the event.
“They really pulled out all the stops to get her,” one source told The Daily Mail. “It’s one of the highest fees that they have ever paid.”
The Obamas have raked in the cash since Barack Obama left office; they got a $65 million deal with Penguin for their memoirs and signed a multi-year contract with Netflix in 2018. Netflix co-CEO Ted Sarandos was a supporter of Obama and his wife was Obama’s Ambassador to the Bahamas from 2009 to 2011.
In 2019, the Obamas’ company, Higher Ground Productions, demanded that another company, founded in 2008 as Higher Ground Enterprises and devoted to helping authors publish e-books, renounce its trademark. The Hollywood Reporter (THR) noted that Higher Ground Productions asked the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office to cancel the trademark registration for “Higher Ground Enterprises.”
THR reported, “Higher Ground Enterprises is run by Hanisya Massey, who, according to her attorney Larry Zerner, is in the business of helping authors publish e-books. … On April 10, a Trademark Examiner refused to register the Obamas’ claimed mark with a nod to the one held by Massey. The Obamas … argued the two marks could co-exist in the marketplace.”
The Obamas’ production company stated:
The consumers of “media production services” covered by the Application are likely to be highly sophisticated. Media production services are generally offered not to individual consumers but to commercial entities and professionals in their field. Indeed, Applicant has entered a deal with Netflix in connection with its media production services. Such customers, whether multi-billion-dollar media companies or smaller commercial entities in need of media production services, will exercise the height of care in selecting a media production company and are highly unlikely to be confused by a photographer or e-book publisher — particularly when the other party uses a distinguishable mark.
The U.S. Trademark Office disagreed, countering, “The overriding concern is not only to prevent buyer confusion as to the source of the goods and/or services, but to protect the registrant from adverse commercial impact due to use of a similar mark by a newcomer.”
THR continued, “In a petition to cancel, the Obamas essentially allege that Massey doesn’t deserve a trademark because ‘Higher Ground Enterprises’ wasn’t actually in use at the time of its 2016 registration. (An online search turns up some early incorporation filings, though the digital trail at least seems thin.)”
Zerner furiously replied, “The Obamas have known for almost a year that their Higher Ground trademark application was rejected by the USPTO because it infringed my client’s rights. Instead, of simply picking another name, the Obamas’ lawyers have now filed a meritless petition to cancel my client’s trademark so they can take it for themselves. This is really deplorable behavior. I hope that the Obamas realize that these actions are not consistent with the values they preach and that they instruct their attorneys to immediately dismiss the petition.”