A federal court has granted the Libertarian National Committee’s request for a preliminary injunction against the Libertarian Party of New Mexico, barring the state organization from using the “Libertarian Party” name while a trademark lawsuit between the two groups is ongoing.
The June 17 order was shared to the LNC’s public Business List this week, with U.S. District Judge Margaret Strickland ruling in favor of the national committee’s request. The case centers on the LNC’s registered “Libertarian Party” mark and whether the New Mexico organization may continue using the name after its affiliation with the national party ended in 2022.
The Libertarian Party of New Mexico was originally affiliated with the Libertarian National Committee from its founding in 1972 until 2022, when the state party notified the LNC that it was severing its affiliation after the two groups clashed over the validity of an earlier state convention of the New Mexico group. In response, the LNC voted to disaffiliate the state party the following month.
Not long afterward, the New Mexico organization joined with the then-called Libertarian Association of Massachusetts, another former state affiliate that broke from the LNC for its own reasons, as well as dissident Libertarian leaders in Virginia, to form the Association of Liberty State Parties. That group later rebranded in 2024 as Liberal Party USA, which continues to operate today and reports affiliates in 12 states.
Libertarian Party members in New Mexico sympathetic to the national organization then established a new party called the Free New Mexico Party, which has since been recognized as the LNC’s state affiliate. Meanwhile, despite the break, the former affiliate continued to operate under the Libertarian Party name, including as a qualified minor party in the eyes of New Mexico, resulting in the LNC sending multiple cease-and-desist letters beginning in July 2023 before filing the lawsuit on May 15.
Under the order, the Libertarian Party of New Mexico and defendants Chris Luchini, Laura Burrows, Paul McKenney, Frederick Snoy, and James Wernicke are barred from using the LNC’s mark, including the name “Libertarian Party of New Mexico,” during the lawsuit. They are directed to remove the mark from their website and stop using it when interacting with the public, party members, and candidates, or in any other capacity that could create confusion as to whether the New Mexico group is in any way affiliated with the national Libertarian Party.
The order says the LNC sought the injunction ahead of a late-June deadline to register as a minor party candidate in New Mexico. The defendants opposed the request, arguing in part that an injunction would affect the rights of those unrelated to the case and amounted to an effort to control “ballot designations and the costs of ballot access” using the trademark dispute as cover.
In considering the details, Strickland wrote that the LNC had made a showing strong enough to demonstrate that it was likely to succeed on the merits of its claim and that continued use of the mark was likely to create public confusion and lead to irreparable harm. The court also rejected several arguments raised by the New Mexico organization at this stage, including that it was the “senior user” of the name, that it was never a licensee of the national party, that the party mark was generic, and that the national committee effectively abandoned its claim through “a lack of quality control.”
Strickland found that any such potential harm to the New Mexico defendants as a result of needing to make changes away from using the mark was surpassed by the LNC’s claims of continued voter and donor confusion. However, the order also stipulates that the defendants “may continue referring to themselves as libertarians” in the sense that they believe in the overarching libertarian political philosophy.
The injunction remains in effect while the case proceeds unless the court says otherwise. The LNC is also ordered to post a $20,000 bond within seven days of the order to cover possible costs and damages in the event the injunction is later found to have been wrongfully issued.
Editorial note: The Liberal Party USA has identified its New Mexico affiliate as the Liberal Party of New Mexico on its website since at least late 2024 and links to the same organization’s website. However, this appears to be unique to the national Liberal organization, and both the state group and the New Mexico Secretary of State’s current qualified-party list continue to identify the organization as the Libertarian Party of New Mexico.
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