DAVID VS GOLIATH

A heroic story resulting in victory. This is about an extraordinary SMU Alumni, Attorney John Cone.

Sharing a story of hope during this month of April, National Child Abuse Awareness month.

“Hope for Children Foundation, a 501(c)3 Non-Profit Charity, Celebrating the Lives of Children and Families in the United States of America.” Patricia Kirby Rasmussen

Patricia announced, “A global giant was defeated through the efforts of an SMU Alumni, Attorney John Cone. Hope for Children Foundation, a 501(c)3 not for profit children’s charity organization founded for the benefit of children, has prevailed in its lawsuit against Samsung Electronics Co, Ltd. Cancellation Number 9205811 in the United States Patent and Trademark Office, Trademark Trial and Appeal Board. Samsung, Respondent, is a Korean-based company, and used part of its name Hope for Children, as part of an overall marketing scheme. Hope for Children Foundation, as the Petitioner, reclaimed its name in the Trademark Office in an Order. The U.S. Trademark Appeals Board Order concluded: “The petition for cancellation is sustained on the ground of likelihood of confusion in connection with Respondent’s International Class 36 services…”

Patricia explained, “Hope for Children Foundation, is steadfast in its resolve to defend its name, mission and purpose in the face of all opposition, similar to David VS Goliath. On behalf of the children and adults served by Hope for Children Foundation’s board of directors, staff, volunteers and supporters, a huge THANK YOU is extended to Super Hero Attorney John Cone, for ongoing support and involvement. The end result helps vulnerable, innocent, and precious children! All children deserve to be loved, nurtured, and cared for daily!”

SMU Alumni, Attorney John Cone – Our David VS Goliath Story

First practicing with a law firm from London, John distinguished himself as a chartered patent agent both in the British Patent Office and in the European Patent Office. He focused on trademark, copyright and patent enforcement, state and federal intellectual property litigation, and a variety of brand strategy and management issues for a distinguished clientele at other well-known firms in Dallas, after moving to the United States and earning his American law degree in 1983.

John’s extensive expertise in state and federal intellectual property cases on both sides of the aisle has made him a sought-after litigator. He has represented clients in such diverse fields as healthcare, food and beverage, software, sports equipment, and apparel. He has appeared before both the Federal Circuit Court of Appeals and the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board on appeals from District Court decisions and in trademark oppositions and ex-parte appeals.

John also finds time to serve as an adjunct professor at the Dedman School of Law at Southern Methodist University. In teaching trademarks and business torts courses to upper-level students, he shares his significant experience with a new generation of attorneys. John is also extremely active in the International Trademark Association, where he serves on the editorial staff of their Trademark Reporter publication, and in the Dallas Bar Association’s Intellectual Property Section. He is also a frequent lecturer on intellectual property and litigation subjects and has published several papers on these topics.

Selected as a Texas Super Lawyer six times since 2006, John Cone has also been recognized by Who’s Who Legal – Texas, and by International Who’s Who Business Lawyers. He received a Master of Arts and Bachelor of Arts from the University of Oxford in Oxford, England. After moving to the United States, John continued his studies at Southern Methodist University, graduating cum laude with a Juris Doctorate.

Attorney John Cone demonstrated undying love for children through his good work, ultimately helping children and families in America. His legal work resulted with the issuance of the U. S. Trademark Registration Certificate, for Hope for Children Foundation. The United States Trademark Registration number 5,409,810 owned now, by only Hope for Children Foundation. Trademark specialist, John Cone has done so much for this charity, Hope for Children Foundation. He currently represents Hope for Children Foundation in the U. S. Trademark Office. He has prevailed on most of the Trademark application requests in which he has applied while representing Hope for Children Foundation. This may sound easy, although it has not been so easy. John fearlessly went against a Global giant, who had taken the name Hope for Children and added to their corporate name in 2011. The U. S. Trademark Office issued Samsung, a Trademark name of Samsung Hope for Children in 2012, without the knowledge of Hope for Children Foundation.

Patricia stated, “In 2013, John Cone reviewed the legal documents of Hope for Children Foundation, with the intentions of filing a Cancellation case against a global giant. It was his legal opinion; Hope for Children Foundation should win the Cancellation suit against Samsung through the appeals process. He then made the decision to represent Hope for Children Foundation on a pro bono basis. Hope for Children Foundation, through its Trademark specialist John Cone, successfully defended the business existence of Hope for Children Foundation since 1998. In addition, he defended the operation of Hope for Children Foundation throughout the United States, as evidenced by the Google Analytics account. All of the brilliant legal strategies to win the Cancellation case against Samsung, came from John Cone. He is truly incredible.”

Mrs. Rasmussen continued, “The Trademark Office ruled against Samsung, late 2017. In February 2018, we were issued the Trademark Registration number 5,409,810, for our name Hope for Children Foundation. Shortly after receiving this Trademark, John filed four more applications, a few requesting dual classifications. The Trademark applications were all approved in March 2019. The Certificates for the newly issued Trademark Registrations should be mailed to John Cone, on April 9, and April 23, this year, from the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.”

Why Is This David VS Goliath Victory So Important?

Every year more than 3.6 million referrals are made to child protection agencies involving more than 6.6 million children in the United States. Together, with your support, child abuse issues can be brought to the attention of tens of thousands more stakeholders who have the capacity to work together toward protecting all children in this nation through Hope for Children Foundation’s free online video/movie training. Many charities candy coat the horrible reality of child abuse. Hope for Children Foundation gives you the “real” hard facts.

For example: Did you know child abuse has been reported by the U. S. Department of Health and Human Services before as a national emergency within the United States? Yet no President of the U.S. has ever declared and/or acted upon this critical emergency to date. This threat is very real to our nation’s sons, daughters, and families.

Child Abuse Reported as A National Emergency in the United States of America

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Office of Human Development Services, U.S. Advisory Board on Child Abuse and Neglect (a temporary entity formed within the Department of Health and Human Services to address the epidemic of child abuse), August 1990 report titled, Child Abuse and Neglect: Critical First Steps in Response to a National Emergency declared child abuse in the United States to be a crisis that amounted to a National Emergency. Page 1 of this report states that in 1989, there were 2.4 million cases of child abuse reported. See Tab 6, Doc. A, Page 2 (https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/ED392557.pdf)

The U.S. Advisory Board on Child Abuse and Neglect final report was in 1995 and referred to the child abuse epidemic as a National Emergency. The 1995 report, A Nation’s Shame: Fatal Child Abuse and Neglect in the United States, A Report of the U.S. Advisory Board on Child Abuse and Neglect, a publication by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Administration for Children and Families, reported 2.9 million reported cases of child abuse. See Tab 6, Doc. B, Page 2 (http://www.ucdenver.edu/academics/colleges/medicaschool/departments/ pediatrics/subs/can/KempeNatlForum/Documents/Nation%27s_Shame.pdf)

The reported number of child abuse and maltreatment cases has risen dramatically over the years. The Child Maltreatment 2017 Annual Report from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Administration for Children and Families, Administration on Children, Youth and Families, Children’s Bureau reports 7.5 million children were reported to be abused in 2017. The National Child Abuse and Neglect Data System gathers data on child abuse and neglect from information voluntarily reported from the states, Washington D.C. and Puerto Rico. Approximately 674,000 children were substantiated to be victims after referrals, reports, and investigations. (This doesn’t mean that these were the only cases that should have been substantiated.) A high number of reported cases are not substantiated for various reasons. See Tab 6, Doc. C, Pages 2-3 (https://www.acf.hhs.gov/sites/default/files/cb/cm2017.pdf)

The U.S. Department of Justice, Office of Justice Programs, Bureau of Justice Statistics conducts an annual National Crime Victimization Survey of selected households interviewing living people about crimes which they experienced, regardless of whether or not the incident was reported to the police or any other entity. Since the report relies on the reporting of crimes experienced by individuals, murder victims are not included in the data. The December 2018 report, Criminal Victimization, 2017, reports drastically higher levels of victimization among 12-17-year olds. The National Crime Victimization Survey does not report on victimized children under 12 years old. The vast difference in the numbers of victimized 12-17-year olds can be explained by the method of reporting, (since a majority of these crimes are not reported to officials) as well as the disposition of reported cases. Data from of the Criminal Victimization Report can be reviewed in Tab 6, Doc. D, Page 2 (https://www.bjs.gov/content/pub/pdf/cv17.pdf)
The FBI reported 97% of abused children reported to the legal system are not protected.

Other Crimes Concerning Children

Human trafficking is the modern form of slavery, with illegal smuggling and trading of people, for forced labor or sexual exploitation. Trafficking is officially defined as the recruitment, transportation, transfer, harboring, or receipt of persons by means of coercion, abduction, fraud, deception, or abuse of power of a position of vulnerability for the purpose of exploitation. Human trafficking is not synonymous with forced migration or smuggling.
In the United States, human trafficking tends to occur around international travel-hubs with large immigrant populations, notably California, Texas and Georgia.

The U.S. Justice Department estimates that 35,500 to 170,500 people are trafficked into the country every year. The 2016 Global Slavery Index estimates that including U.S. citizens and immigrants, 57,700 people are victims of human trafficking. Those being trafficked include young children, teenagers, men, and women and can be domestic citizens or foreign nationals.

Under federal law (18 USC § 1589), it is a crime to make people work by use of force, coercion or fear. U.S. State Department’s Office to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons placed the country in “Tier 1” in 2017. On April 11, 2018, U.S. President Donald Trump signed the Stop Enabling Sex Traffickers Act into law, which is aimed at closing websites that enable the crime to occur, and prosecuting their owners and users.

About Hope for Children Foundation

Hope for Children Foundation, is an acknowledged leader in America working diligently to provide a better and safer environment for children, their family, and you. Since 1998, its staff and volunteers have helped sexually and physically abused children in Texas and throughout the nation by facilitating widespread access to legal, medical, and mental health experts intended for appropriate resources to be made available to victims and their families. Its staff, board of directors, volunteers, and supporters are working carefully to create a cultural safety net for children at risk through extensive awareness campaigns, education, training, job preparation, and public/private resources.

Thousands of free services listed on the Website of Hope for Children Foundation, are offered to people in all fifty states. Many free movies, videos, services and resources are available and offered to you at no charge. These free services are intended to better protect you, your family, friends and others. You will find many enhanced life-saving skills to increase your knowledge and protection on the Website: https://hopeforchildrenfoundation.org

Hope for Children Foundation educates the general public, families, federal and state first responders by identifying and filling critical voids that threaten the well-being of children who are at risk of falling through the cracks of the legal system. Living an abuse-free life is more than a hope or a dream – it is a child’s right.

The training programs significantly impact people in each state of this nation and in 41 other countries through the power of the Internet. Hope for Children Foundation training videos are posted on its Web site and are free to access. The online video presence is intended to help train citizens throughout the nation about taking steps to better protect children and adults. See this link for training videos: https://www.hopeforchildrenfoundation.org/members-2/training-videos/
For further information and/or to sign up for the free Hope for Children Foundation Newsletter, please visit https://hopeforchildrenfoundation.org.

National Recommendations for Our Nation’s Most Vulnerable Treasures, Our Children

Patricia believes and convincingly explained, “Hope for Children Foundation’s recommendations to reduce violent crime against children and adults might literally require an act of the U.S. Congress and/or a constitutional amendment, but we firmly believe our nation’s children are worth it! All children and adults deserve to feel confident to better protect themselves from abuse throughout their lives. Our recommendation to reduce violent crime is as follows: We recommend the integration of training focused on prevention of abuse into the national academic curriculum for the benefit of our most vulnerable treasures. While the specific details of the curriculum’s implementation will need to be worked out with various stake holders, teachers, parents, legal authorities, we suggest thirty-minute daily classes from kindergarten through university level students to help decrease violent crime.”

Course Objectives Proposed for National Academic Curriculum in America

• Build Character;
• Instill respect for self, friends, family, teachers, coworkers, neighbors and the general public;
• Equip students to recognize and respond to signs and symptoms of sexual assault and domestic violence;
• Educate students about how to recognize, prevent and respond to substance abuse;
• Teach students about healing and recovery from abuse;
• Teach citizens of all ages how to respond to acts of sexual assault and domestic violence;
• Empower children as well as adults to make educated and informed decisions.

According to the U. S. Department of Human Services, about 5.8 million children are reported abused each year. You are invited to unite with Hope for Children Foundation to protect the nation’s most vulnerable treasures!

Spotlighting the National KIDS COUNT Project by The Annie E. Casey Foundation

At the heart of the National KIDS COUNT Project’s work are the annual KIDS COUNT Data Book and the KIDS COUNT Data Center. The best available resource on the economic, physical, educational and relational well-being of children and families in the United States.
KIDS COUNT is a project of the Annie E. Casey Foundation to track the well-being of children in the United States. They are located in Baltimore, Maryland. By providing high-quality data and trend analysis through its KIDS COUNT Data Center, the Foundation seeks to enrich local, state and national discussions concerning ways to secure better futures for all children — and to raise the visibility of children’s issues through a nonpartisan, evidence-based lens.

KIDS COUNT State Rankings

The KIDS COUNT Data Book tracks the well-being of the nation’s children state by state using a comprehensive index.

The first five best overall state ranking from the 2018 Kids’ Count Data Book are listed as follow: (1) New Hampshire, (2) Massachusetts, (3) New Jersey, (4) Minnesota, (5) Iowa

The 8 lowest ranking states 43 – 50: (43) Texas, (44) Oklahoma, (45) Arizona,
(46) Alaska, (47) Nevada, (48) Mississippi, (49) Louisiana, and (50) New Mexico

Go online to see how your state ranks in overall child well-being, and other areas. The Annie E. Casey Foundation https://aecf.org The 2018 Kids’ Count Data Book is provided by The Annie E. Casey Foundation.

Patricia continued, “While you are busy, we’ll be protecting children, giving them hope, moral guidance, and a dream. Join us, by helping make dreams come true for kids. Please make a difference in the lives of children now. Hope for Children Foundation ® stands firmly in supporting the prevention of cruelty to children, extending and offering protection to children, families and adults in the United States through free online video and movie education. Hope for Children Foundation celebrates the lives of children and families in the United States of America. We invite you to become a part of the America’s Children Dream Team through Hope for Children Foundation.”

“We are overwhelmed with happiness that you care to read this information and choose to be a part of America’s Children Dream Team, and Hope for Children Foundation!” Graciously remarked, Patricia.

We look forward to the day we can truthfully write a David VS Goliath victory story about Children being the “David” and “Goliath” being child abuse. No more “Goliath” no more “child abuse.”