The company in question, which operates under several names, including Mettemp Inc. and Consolidated Distributors Inc., has paid just $87.50 to apply and be granted the state trademark for the name.
The trademark application filed by Mettemp in April 2009 only provided a single specimen as proof of its use of the mark: a logo bearing the words "Bike Week Joe Cool Inc." The application was signed by Yosef Amar, owner of Joe Cool Inc., who identified himself as a vice president of "Metemp Inc." , and was approved April 13, 2009.
Specifically, any businesses that produce T-shirts and other merchandise bearing the Daytona Beach Bike Week name without its approval, could face legal action from the company.
In fact, according to news-journalonline.com, the company could even seize those "counterfeit goods." However, “confiscation action would only be possible with a federal trademark, which Consolidated does not possess," chamber CEO Larry McKinney wrote in a letter sent to members Saturday.
Heather Vargas, the board-certified intellectual property attorney representing the chamber, stated for the aforementioned source, that Mettemp does not have a legal right to the Daytona Beach Bike Week name because it isn't something that can be trademarked.
"Registrations don't mean anything if they're not based on an actual ownership of the mark," said Vargas, who added, "People have been printing merchandise with the phrase 'Daytona Beach Bike Week' for decades."
Amar said his company is asking businesses that want to sell Daytona Beach Bike Week merchandise to either pay a licensing fee of 20 cents per product bearing the name, or buy preprinted products his company makes and resell them.
Google News