• Posts Tagged ‘voluntary association’

    So You Can Tack — Now What?

    by  • February 22, 2022 • trademark • 0 Comments

    It’s not unusual for those involved in charitable work to have trademark ownership issues. I suspect it is because the organizations are largely volunteer-driven without, at least at first, any formal business organization or structure. They are also often ideologically driven, which means that different views on the group’s direction will cause a schism....

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    The First Amendment and Collective Marks

    by  • March 4, 2019 • trademark • 1 Comment

    The government has been trying to seize the MONGOLS trademark for over ten years. You can read my previous posts about it here, here, here and here.  The Mongol Nation, an unincorporated association, owned or owns several registrations for a trademark, service marks and collective membership marks for the word mark MONGOLS, the riding...

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    But What’s the End Game?

    by  • October 5, 2015 • trademark • 0 Comments

    The U.S. government has been in a multi-year, multi-indictment quest to acquire the trademarks of the Mongols motorcycle club. You can find the whole complicated background here, but the short version is that, because of improper assignments, the government indicted the wrong party the first time around. So the government is back, this time...

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    Corporation versus Unincorporated Association

    by  • September 10, 2015 • trademark • 0 Comments

    One of the issues I often write about is what entity, exactly, owns a trademark. As described by the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board, “feuding members of extended family businesses, aging pop bands, or religious organizations riven by theological schisms” are frequent litigants because trademarks can be adopted with great informality and no documentation....

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    The Drifters, Yet Again

    by  • March 22, 2015 • trademark • 0 Comments

    One thing that’s sure to make my eyes roll back into my head is the word “Drifters” in a case caption. Westlaw has 13 cases listed, 8 federal, 3 state and 2 TTAB. Now the TTAB has had another crack at it, including looking at evidence that goes all the way back to the...

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    Schooling on Unincorporated Associations

    by  • August 18, 2014 • trademark • 0 Comments

    The Ninth Circuit has given us a lesson on unincorporated associations and two different legal concerns when one is involved in a trademark infringement lawsuit: the association’s capacity to own trademarks and to bring a lawsuit for infringement. The plaintiff is the Southern California Darts Association (“SoCal”), which promotes darts competitions and coordinates leagues....

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    A Sensible Decision

    by  • July 16, 2014 • trademark • 1 Comment

    John Welch at the must-read site The TTABlog published a post about a recent ownership decision, Conolty v. Conolty O’Connor NYC LLC. The gist is that two women started a business without any formal business structure, one of the women, O’Connor, formed the defendant LLC as a single member limited liability company, and the...

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    The Mongols Have Their Colors Back (For Real)

    by  • July 4, 2011 • trademark

    The whole Mongols trademark seizure case is a little confusing, so this story is put together from a few different decisions in two different cases.  Two marks, the MONGOLS word mark for “association services, namely, promoting the interests of persons interested in the recreation of riding motorcycles” and the “Image Mark“ for “jackets and...

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    Factions Having a Common History

    by  • April 25, 2011 • trademark

    The caption tells it all: 100 Blacks in Law Enforcement Who Care, Inc. v. 100 Blacks in Law Enforcement Who Care. As explained by the TTAB: Opposers’ pleadings herein contain three grounds for refusing applicant registration: (1) priority and likelihood of confusion; (2) likelihood of dilution; and (3) that applicant is not the rightful...

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    When Do You Exist?

    by  • October 14, 2010 • trademark

    Once I did some legal research on unincorporated associations. How do you know when you have one? Is your regular Friday night poker game an unincorporated association?  (My aunt played poker with the same people for 50 years – surely that was an unincorporated association.) What about when members change, what happens then? When...

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