First the group calling itself Sturgis Motorcycle Rally Inc. (SMRi) filed to claim trademark ownership of the terms "Sturgis," "Sturgis Bike Week," "Sturgis Rally & Races," and "Sturgis Motorcycle Rally." That claim was then challenged by a group called Concerned Citizens for Sturgis (CCFS).
Then, Renegade Classics Corp, an organzier of CCFS, filed its own trademark claims to the term "Sturgis Rally Week," both by itself and in use with a motorcycle design.
Yesterday SMRi struck back, filing an opposition proceeding against Renegade Classics with the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board of the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO). As reported in the Rapid City Journal, the SMRi argues that Renegade Classics has claimed "confusingly similar" trademarks and seeks to profit off SMRi's goodwill.
Dean Kinney, SMRi's board president said that, "Even while claiming SMRi has no such trademark rights and while calling themselves the ‘Concerned Citizens for Sturgis,' a Concerned Citizen is trying to trademark Sturgis Rally Week for himself for purely commercial interests. We thought it important that someone protected the Sturgis brand and do it on behalf of the Sturgis community."
Opponents of the trademarking argue that after so many businesses have used the terms for so many years it is much too late for anyone to be locking those terms down as their own. Additionally, the USPTO, in a document titled "Basic Facts About Trademarks," states the following:
Registration may be refused if the mark is:
- Descriptive for the goods/services;
- A geographic term;
- A surname;
- Ornamental as applied to the goods.
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