A German anti-fascist organization has found an unusual way to fight extremism: by registering far-right slogans and codes as trademarks, they prevent anyone else from using them to sell merchandise.

Laut gegen Nazis e.V., working with an advertising agency, has registered trademark rights to coded extremist language, including 'Druck 18'—the name of a major far-right online shop. Think of it like claiming ownership of a brand name. Once a trademark is registered, no one else can legally use it without permission. By holding these registrations, the organization blocks extremist retailers from legally protecting their shop names.

Why does this matter? According to The Guardian, far-right groups in Germany make significant money selling merchandise with extremist symbols and slogans. If the organization controls the trademark, extremist shops cannot legally protect their brand names, which makes the business riskier and less profitable. It's a way to cut off funding for extremist activity.

German law complicates this picture. A law called §86a bans explicit Nazi symbols. But this ban actually pushed extremists to use codes instead—numbers that stand in for banned phrases or names. 'Druck 18,' for example, encodes initials connected to Adolf Hitler. These codes exist precisely because the direct symbols are illegal. By registering trademarks on the coded versions, Laut gegen Nazis closes a gap that the original law left open.

Once the trademark is registered, the organization has legal tools to enforce it. They can send cease-and-desist letters and file challenges when extremists try to register competing names. The extremist retailer loses legal protection for their brand.

This approach has limits. The organization must constantly monitor extremist networks to catch new coded phrases before they gain popularity in merchandise sales. The far-right has shown it can keep inventing new codes. So the strategy is always playing catch-up. Also, registering trademarks takes legal expertise and money—resources not all organizations have.

Still, the strategy works where it is applied. Revenue from branded merchandise funds extremist groups. Making that business legally uncertain and riskier means less money flows to far-right organizations. On its own, the trademark approach cannot solve the extremism problem. But as one part of a larger effort involving law enforcement and civil society groups, it adds a real obstacle to extremist funding.