They didn’t file, they shouldn’t get any of the benefits. What reason would the organization have to continue putting on the festival if this didn’t happen?

You stupid freetard. This is the way the law works. Since it is law, it is right.

The town should cancel the rally altogether since they can’t make any money from it, and then this STUPID company can take their name elsewhere.

IDIOT!

The town didn’t apply for a trademark.

In reply to your comments here, this one and the previous one, just because it is the “law” does not make it right/just. This organization is capitalizing on a “law” that has needed major overhaul for a very long time. Name calling and generic blanket statements do not lend weight to your arguments.
Considering the length of time that this Festival has been running and the likely time frame that the businesses being bullied have been selling merchandise related to the Sturgis Rally, this trademark would be invalidated if any or all of the vendors would hit back with any reasonable legal counsel supporting them!
Please bring valid arguments/comments to the discussion or crawl back into your little basement and keep worshiping the corporate gods you have plastered to your walls.

FUCK MY SARCASM DETECTOR IS MELTING

That’s a tough choice for a town that doesn’t exactly have a booming economy. Unless the town is willing to say, “f@ck you! we don’t need your money!” (and they might, some folks prefer small towns with not much going on) then more than likely this is a situation where the town needs the rally more than the rally needs the town. The merchants that are taking stuff off the shelves are probably also scared of the Sturgis Rally moving on to another small town that would have no problem giving up its name for sake of the proven massive economic boom for that 1-2 weeks a year.

If they were trying to claim trademark over “Stugis Rally”, “Sturgis Biker Rally”, etc… then fine in fact I’d back them on it. But trying to take the name Sturgis itself? Bull.

Without trademark protection, nobody would ever have an incentive to name towns.

Get it right, you dumb freetards!

File a lawsuit. Show me some paperwork. Otherwise, go back to your piracy club or wherever it is that you freetards go when you’ve been proven wrong.

I could claim that I own the moon, but that doesn’t make it so. Just like you folks claim that you own the culture. Your post just proves the attitude of the others around here. You think you should just be able to own things without filling out the proper paperwork.

You’re absolutely right! I’ve just filed the paperwork that says that I own my left arm. Some day, I hope to own a complete set of arms. I just hope that doesn’t cost me an arm and a leg, because I still don’t own a leg of my own (haven’t filed the paperwork, you see).

midlife crisis guys

I resemble that remark. Though I haven’t been to Sturgis yet.

Don’t forget to fill out the twenty-seven B stroke six form. Your whole house could be burning down and you’re not even allowed to turn on the kitchen tap to put the fire out without filling in the form and getting approval from the appropriate agencies.

They shouldn’t need to. It’s the town’s name. The event predates the corporation that is putting on the event. It should all be what would be called “Public Domain.” Kind of like releasing a product without applying for a patent first automatically invalidates any future patent application. Claiming a patent (or trademark) after public release makes any future claim to such the same as theft from the rightful owner (the public).

Perhaps you need a lesson in trademark:

Trademarks are granted to protect a company’s products from being confused with the products of another company. The company would need to show that there is adaquate proof that when people think of the word or phrase in question, that they think of a specific company. In this case, it can adaquately argue that when people think of “Sturgis” they think of an event in a town called “Sturgis” and not a specific company. Furthermore, this specific company is hosting an event in a town with the license of that town. So, who really owns the event? Arguably, the event is owned by the town and hosted with the license of the town. Therefore, by the law, the company has no leg to stand on.

SMRi?s predecessor was the Sturgis Area Chamber of Commerce

Knowing that, the rest will probably make more sense.

Being a resident of the nearby town of Rapid City, and one time owner of the sturgisrally.com domain name, I can tell you that the organization that controls the IP for the motorcycle event has been tightening their grip for years over many of the words that could be used in conjunction with Sturgis that could describe the annual event. Basically, they have trademarked many common phrases that were in use for many many years before to describe the event and then went after any person or business that decided to use those words, such as sturgis rally, sturgis bike week, sturgis motorcycle rally, etc.

For many years when I had the sturgisrally.com domain (at the time, my company even hosted the official site), my site was dormant with no content, that is why I fell that I was fortunate enough not to receive any legal threats from the official rally company about the use of the name sturgis rally in my domain. Many other domain owners with similar names had to deal with the ridiculous licensing in order to use their domains.

Now hearing that they are trying to control the word Sturgis is crazy. Sturgis is the name of the town. Does that mean any company that uses that name must pay a license fee? Map makers? Tourist shops selling generic Sturgis marked goods? Highway signs? Will the city of Sturgis have to pay a licence fee just to use their own town name? All ridiculous and I sure hope the companies being attacked will hire good lawyers in order to fight this and show just how idiotic it is to think that a company can own the name of a town.

On a side note, an article from the same newspaper last year wrote about the number of federal agencies that had a presence during the rally and that one of their biggest tasks was to take out any ‘bootleg’ businesses selling items that contains words that described the event without obtaining the proper licences. Now I can understand the need to license the official name of the event to be used on goods sold, but they have always stretched things way beyond reason and logic.

These business people have been selling merchandise with the town name on it for a long time. Having someone file a trademark for the sole purpose of putting people out of business who were there before you is what I would call a freetard. They didn’t name the town. They didn’t create the merchandise. They didn’t do anything BUT fill out the paperwork…. to “own” something they had no part in. If you don’t see the problem with this, then I would like to fight you. Yes, a fist fight. Not that I’m a violent person, but someone needs to beat some sense into you.

You need to upgrade to the Sarcasmeter 451. With heat-resistant shielding developed by NASA, now available to the internet masses. Perfect for flamewars! Only $41.99.

Neither, but I stayed at a Holiday Inn last night, so should be qualified as either ….

nice post.thank you for sharing