The law surrounding vanity license plates is unsettled, to vastly understate the reality. There’s no consensus across states, much less federal jurisdictions. Every government seems to have its own idea about what’s offensive and what isn’t, as well as its own take on whether a personalized plate is government speech or merely the expression of the person who acquired the plate.
As a result, vanity plates are a gamble. Everything good is probably already taken. And everything else has to run a very subjective gauntlet past reviewers who may see something offensive in the most innocuous combination of numbers and letters. Electronic Board
Consquently, we’ve seen legal battles over “O1NK” (requested by a cop no less), “COPSLIE” (not requested by a cop), “69PWNDU” (no comment), “LOVETOFU” (requested by a tofu lover), and “1NFOS3C” (somehow rejected as a “term of lust or depravity”).
This case — handled in a short, unpublished opinion [PDF] by the Ninth Circuit Appeals Court — finds on the side of the Hawaiian government, which initially released, then rejected, Edward Odquina’s “FCKBLM” license plate. (h/t Courthouse News Service)
The Ninth Circuit says this has nothing to do with what the FCK is directed at, in this case BLM, the recognizable acronym for the Black Lives Matter movement. It’s the FCK itself, which is readily recognizable as shorthand for “fuck,” which the government is free to censor when it comes to personalized plates.
Odquina contends that using profanity or vulgar language is a viewpoint that may not be constitutionally abridged. The district court properly concluded that Odquina’s challenge went to the content of his message, rather than its viewpoint, and that such content-based restrictions are constitutionally permissible.
That’s pretty much it for Odquina. As long as the state DMV consistently rejects FCK — no matter what follows these three letters — it’s making content-based restrictions, which are far more constitutionally acceptable than viewpoint-based restrictions, which would suggest the government is in the business of only approving plates that align with reviewers’ personal views.
While the resolution of this episode is concise, if a bit unsatisfying, there’s more to the story than the end of it. The real fun is the beginning of it. Reading the Courthouse News report on this decision, I happened across this tantalizing bit of info:
Although the city flagged the plate as a “publicly objectionable” message, Odquina explained to City Hall staff that the letters were an acronym for his business. The city eventually approved the plate and gave it to Odquina.
Well, now I had to find out what Odquina’s business name was. Obviously, this was a case of reverse engineering, where Odquina had decided what sentiment he wanted to express via a personalized plate and worked backwards from there. I was not disappointed. In fact, I was extremely amused. It’s far better than I thought it would be.
Tracking down Odquina’s original complaint [PDF], I began looking for the narrative describing this interaction with the DMV over the disputed plate. Lots of the complaint is given over to explaining how much Odquina doesn’t care for the Black Lives Matter movement and how that personal animus led him to request a plate that would allow other drivers to draw the intended inference.
But here’s the good stuff. The stuff I was looking for:
Odquina started and incorporated the business “Film Consulting KravMAGA Bloomberg, LLC” on August 13, 2021 in Hawaii and intended to use the acronym “FCKBLM” to advertise that business.
First off, Odquina started this business seven months after he applied for the plate. He did more than a month after he told a county employee the requested plate was just an acronym for his business — a business he hadn’t even started yet. So, there’s more than one form of reverse engineering going on here.
But Odquina can’t even acronym right. He was apparently so enthralled with his own cleverness, he forgot he was supposed to be building an acronym. I’m sure he felt KravMAGA was [chef’s kiss], but that portmanteau FCKs up his belated attempt to salvage the “legitimacy” of his personalized plate. That’s not “FCKBLM.” That’s “FCKMBL,” my man. And that is somehow even stupider than trumpeting your antipathy towards Black Lives Matter by utilizing a letter combination pretty much universally rejected by DMVs everywhere (including this one).
If you’re into that sort of thing, his filing also contains his “business” website. The pages take forever to load, but at least the welcome page contains something that can be abbreviated to “FCKBLM” correctly.
Someone at some point may come up with a better challenge to Hawaii’s personalized plate rules. This result is just the expected endpoint of someone litigating because they’re angry, not because they have a case. And, as local news continues to report, Odquina has decided these legal losses don’t require him to abide with local laws, so he’s spent the last couple of years driving around in a (ridiculous) unregistered vehicle just to own the libs.
Filed Under: 1st amendment, 9th circuit, edward odquina, fckblm, hawaii, license plates, offensive language
Yeah, that’s about the level of intelligence I expect from a Trumpist.
I didn’t make it past
O1NK (requested by a cop no less),
I’ll finish the article now.
“Odquina started and incorporated the business “Film Consulting KravMAGA Bloomberg, LLC””
I mean, whatever the timeline, putting explicit political messaging into your business name is fairly silly and immature. Although, I do wonder what “Krav” means and why Bloomberg is there. Or, maybe I don’t. If it weren’t for a stunt that would be extraordinarily bad for business.
“First off, Odquina started this business seven months after he applied for the plate. He did more than a month after he told a county employee the requested plate was just an acronym for his business”
So, he lied to authorities in official communication. Then, when being denied what he wanted because of said lie, he ran crying that he was a victim and being persecuted?
Yeah, typical. I’ll just make the observation I usually make – if ignorance is bliss, why are these people so angry all the time? It must be a very bad life he leads if this is what he spends his waking moments thinking about, but I’m guessing he blames other people for that too.
…. Ok, but what does the CONSTITUTION say about vanity license plates ?
Krav Maga is a fighting technique developed for the Israeli military. It predates MAGA by decades.
The “maga” part of it is also pronounced differently, with emphasis on the “ga” (Krav Maga (/ˌkrɑːv məˈɡɑː/ KRAHV mə-GAH; < stolen directly from Wikipedia).
Meanwhile, MAGA puts the emphasis on the “ma”
So if you say “Krav MAGA” you just sound like an idiot.
So, he lied to authorities in official communication
Not necessarily. There’s quite a delay between setting up a company and actually finishing all the paperwork. Especially a limited corp.
“he’s spent the last couple of years driving around in a (ridiculous) unregistered vehicle just to own the libs”
Oh, and I’m going to guess it did no such thing. I can’t see the second link due to regional restrictions, but if he got anything other than rolled eyes and “look at this idiot” while driving around I’d be surprised. What a sad, pathetic life.
Here in Canada we’ve had some high profile cases of people being denied permission to use their own surname on their license plates.
The better known cases include that of Saskatchewan man David ASSMAN, who has been trying to get a personalized plate with his surname for several decades.
Another case that saw court action is that of Nova Scotia resident Lorne GRABHER, whose previously permitted plate was revoked in early 2017. (Gosh! After nearly 30 years of GRABHER being an acceptable identifier, I wonder it that became an issue just then?)
The Supreme Court of Canada declined to hear Grabher’s case, after Grabher failed to regain his license plate ID in an appeal before the Nova Scotia Court of Appeal.
I just don’t understand why someone would hate the Bureau of Land Management. Very odd.
Aiui, they do. Has something to do with not letting them trash the environment however they want. (for example, to make more private profits by raising their cattle on public land.)
https://www.reuters.com/legal/litigation/brief-activists-sue-blm-selling-wild-horses-kill-buyers-2021-06-15/
Or maybe it’s because it’s Hawaii. There’s some generational land disputes there.
Knowing Hawaii’s environmental issues of late, that’s what came to my mind d. Someone upset about the BLM and the string of criminal frauds of late. Stories of corruption and coercion. Arrests and court cases. MAGA kills that idea but that was my initial thinking with this being Hawaii.
Just to get it out of the way what a pathetic loser, hates BLM so much he wants to let everyone who sees him driving know it but he’s too much of a gutless coward to actually own it and instead goes with a blatantly obvious lie.
And, as local news continues to report, Odquina has decided these legal losses don’t require him to abide with local laws, so he’s spent the last couple of years driving around in a (ridiculous) unregistered vehicle just to own the libs.
A law that isn’t enforced is a law that effectively doesn’t exist, unless the local government wants people to decide en-mass that vehicle registration is entirely optional that sort of blatant flaunting of the law is something they should be bringing the hammer down on hard even if they are bringing said hammer down on a punchline-less joke of a human being.
BLM has stolen millions from the black community. But considering you’re here whining about “racists” on a TD article and not actually supporting the black community, I assume you endorse that completely.
I think what he was aiming for was
Film Consulting Kravmaga BLooMberg = FCKBLM
“Your request for a vanity license plate with FCKBLM has been rejected, but perhaps you would be interested in the alternative plate ILVFSCSM.”
Guys, I think we found Matthew Bennett’s real name!
This guy is dumb like a rock but I’m very interested in this diamond of a genius: “O1NK (requested by a cop no less)”
I mean, where does it live, what does it eat, what are its habits. Some sort of NatGeo documentary is due.
Here you go [right here on Techdirt](https://www.techdirt.com/2015/09/03/cop-fights-state-agency-right-to-place-0ink-license-plate-his-own-vehicle/%5D.
Film Consulting KravMAGA Bloomberg, LLC
Hahahaha, taking low-effort to a new level. How about:
Foundation for the Conservation of Killer BLue Manatees?
Anyone else read LOVETOFU wrong?
… I can’t believe I missed that the first read through, the DMV might not have been as absurd as I originally thought rejecting that one.
I think everyone should have the right to express their inner asshole, provided they’re ready to deal with the consequences. Let the idiot have his “FCKBLM” plate, but he can’t complain or file any police reports or insurance claims when it inevitably gets keyed/spray painted/torched. Others should be able to express THEIR inner asshole, too, you see…
So just authorize the actual acronym for his new “business”:
Make an exception for self-deprecating humor.
Someone’s itching for an IP ban
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