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U.S. lifestyle guru MARTHA STEWART’s attempts to trademark her hometown of Katonah, New York is causing further controversy, because the town was named after a famous Native Indian.
Stewart’s company Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia is hoping to trademark the town for her range of home furnishing and paints, but locals from the Katonah Village Improvement Society are appealing against the application.
Katonah was named after 17th century Native Indian Chief Katonah, who sold the land to white European settlers in 1680.
Clint Halftown, representative for the Cayuga Nation - a local Native Indian constituent - tells the New York Daily News, "If it’s being done for profit, then of course it’s offensive. Of all the names in the world and all the words, why can’t she pick something out that’s not offensive?" Autumn Scott, co-chair of the New Jersey State Commission on Indian Affairs, adds, "We trust that Martha Stewart intended no malice in seeking to have her corporation trademark the name of one of our great ancestral leaders, but for her to say she is doing so to honour him and our tribe is absurd especially when it is being done solely for profit." Stewart’s lawyer John Cuti insists the trademark application "will not stop Katonah residents - or anyone else - from using the name Katonah exactly as they always have".

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