Visionary
Posts: 4278
| There will be no sturgis north.
Sturgis city of south Dakotas owns the name and the name sturgis rally. They have been suieing ever one that use the name sturgis and winning.
(From 2 press releases received from Brian Niemann, co-owner of Rushmore Photo & Gifts and Aaron W. Davis, Partner at PATTERSON THUENTE CHRISTENSEN PEDERSEN, P.A)
On July 7, 2011, Rushmore Photo & Gifts, Inc. held a press conference in Rapid City, South Dakota announcing its intention to vigorously defend itself against recent allegations of trademark infringement made by Sturgis Motorcycle Rally, Inc. (SMRI). Indeed, the day before, Rushmore filed counterclaims in federal court seeking the cancellation of SMRI?s registration for the name ―Sturgis based on fraud on the United States Patent & Trademark Office. Rushmore has also brought other counterclaims, including claims for damages for tortious interference and for false and fraudulent registration of a trademark.
Rushmore?s counterclaims allege that during the process of obtaining the registration for ―Sturgis, SMRI?s predecessor, the Sturgis Area Chamber of Commerce, swore under oath to the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office that it was the ―substantially exclusive‖ user of the name ? Sturgis from 1987 through 2001. Rushmore?s attorney, Aaron Davis from Patterson Thuente IP, stated at the press conference, ―As anybody from Sturgis well knows, the Chamber of Commerce was not by any means the exclusive user and source of goods bearing the name ̳Sturgis? ever, let alone from 1987 through 2001. According to Rushmore?s claims, the Chamber?s false statements to the Trademark Office allowed the ―Sturgis registration to issue, but they render the registration invalid and |
Copyright of the word 'Sturgis'.
