Daytona Bike Week Trademarks Cancelled by Federal Judge:
Stating that the trademarks should never have been granted in the first place after being open for decades, a Federal Judge simply threw them out as being too generic to copyright by an outside entity, and saying that at best, only that community could possibly copyright them. She further decided that they had been obtained from the Federal Trademark and Patent office fraudulently and noted that the so-called owners of the trademarks could not enforce them in any way, nor stop anyone from making merchandise for sale at Daytona Bike week. We feel as do many within our industry that this decision will have enormous bearing on the fight to strip similar trademarks from others that are currently holding them for the Sturgis Black Hills rally. As many of you know, this group created havoc at this past summer’s Sturgis rally. Many vendors were refused access to the trademarks, and others were charged exorbitant sums to us them. As a result, we all paid more for “Official” rally T-Shirts, clothing and other souvenirs, and we also had far less of a selection as so many vendors just boycotted “Official” rally goods. We did! Most of what we saw sucked anyway so it was easy. Many people we spoke with there also felt the same way and brought little or no official products. Hopefully a positive decision on this by the courts will take place before this year’s Sturgis Rally in August. We will keep you posted.
Quick Throttle Magazine
Join the fight to keep the words “Sturgis” and “Black Hills” free for all to use. Go to both www.concernedcitizensforsturgis.org and Facebook “Concerned Citizens for Sturgis” page.
Kent Mortimer
Renegade Classics
