Car Clubs BEWARE!!

I went to Virgin in San Francisco and took some pics, One didnt turn out so well becuase I had covered the flash so I didnt get the security guards standing right behind me's attention, but here they are. I would have taken more but I got ballsey with the flash and sure enough the Security Guard asked me to leave.


http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v646/GreaserChris/DSCN0297.jpg

 

Anything and everything that comes out of your skull and is put into tangible form... is automatically copyrighted to that creator. No paperwork, no nothing. The "mail it to yourself" idea is a good way to date the existence of a work. There also is a process where you can register the work with the Library of Congress.

But... bottom line, if you can't protect the copyright, meaning being prepared to spend dollars... many dollars... the copyright has no value except to sue if the theif goes huge with your stuff. That almost never happens. I fight a continual battle with some jerk called The Ol Parts Mine Company that rips off numerous artists and makes water slide decals and sells then on ebay. The reality of my protection is virtually none, in this case I have a third party, ebay, that helps police this activity. In the real world there are no such third parties, generally. If someone want to buy his stuff, they will, stolen or not.

Let Virgin know that the stuff is pirated, if they hear that message often enough, they will not buy from the manufacturer, since they want nothing to do with legal exposure. So stop in, and make a LOUD complaint to the manager about the shirts.

 

Skin industries currently has a shirt out similiar to the deathhead logo.....thin ice.

 

ROFL

 

hey Joe. wanna buy one of my brand new "Chrome Czars Motor Club" shirts?? i just printed 2000 of them. i'm thinking of adding a limited edition "Cap'N Fancy Pants" line as well. i'll cut you a break if you buy in bulk!! = D

...just fuckin with ya bro.

 

I didnt see a Road Zombies (If Im not reading your plaque in your avatar right I'm sorry) shirt so maybe your in the clear either way its gonna be a Von Dutch Thing all over again.

 

Upset? If the Hells Angels find out that their colors are on somebody who isn't HA, that somebody is going to the hospital.

Why do you suppose that is?

 

and even in the old days if you got caught handing out said ass whoopin you went to jail... your actions have consiquences.

lecture over...

 

i understand where you guys are coming from. over the past year my favorite thing to do has been to go up to whatever "scenester" i see wearing a Von Dutch whatever and ask them if they eve know who Von Dutch was. the closest i got to a yes was "i think he IS some Chopper painter or something". ask Mongo, ask my little brother. people look at you like your fuckin nuts or something. i did find out that harrassing a hot girl about her hat is not a good way to get her to pay attention to you. true story.

i think it sucks but on the other hand i realize that there probably realy is'nt much you can do about it unless your ready to spend some coin. sometimes a threatening letter with an Attorney's letterhead at the top will do the trick but not often.

i was wearing my Ionia Hot Rod Shop T-shirt today and somebody i never met before asked me if i was the one who drove around that "old blue truck". all that means is that i know the impression that some people get when they see you wearing certain things. on the other hand it is good publicity and helps get your name out there. cool, if thats what your after.

 

No Fear sold shirts with a picture of me getting upside down at Ventura, should I have went after them??

 

its not as bad as stealing a club logo or name, but heres one of the shirts

 

out of curiosity, has the CC name "Throttlers" ever been used before?, and was there ever a club in Brawley by that name.

either way, i am pretty sure that the manufacturer of those shirts is well with in thier legal rights to produce what ever they have. even though it definately disgusts many of us.

the best way to look at this is: it is a passing fad, and soon it will drop back to whence it came...

now if they would just pinch the rumblers logo, i think we might see some real sparks fly.

 

Very true. The Karb Kings have jackets and shirts that only members can wear, and our by-laws state that if you leave the club, you have to return the jacket.

For car shows and such, we have event shirts and then we offer "support crew" shirts for people that help us out, but aren't members. We've offered the support crew shirts to the general public as well, but we maintain strict control over our name and logo.

Stacey

 

I was in K-Mart this morning and in the little sticker machines by the exit there was a sticker that said "Von Dork"... talk about a sure sign of the end of a fad....

"Disco Sucks" hehehe

Stacey

 

What's the deal with t-shirt fashion?
Everything is so fake.
Fake resturants, fake garages, fake gas stations, fake car clubs.

oh well the end is near.

 

I want to be outraged at this, but I can't. In order to do so, I would have to pay for all the software and music I have stolen over the Internet.

 

Good question, people seem to forget that some of todays clubs are using the names and logos of clubs from days gone by (some of which are still active clubs) I have a Throttlers Hollywood shirt that I got in 90 or 91, do I have to quit wearing it b/c some guys in Utah decided to use that name for a club?

 

Not sure if it helps or not but when we started up we registered our club name with the state as a non profit organization, so legally it shows that we do have rights to the name.

 

Excuse me, I came into this debate on page 3.
On this site we "dislike" thieves to a great degree. If someone is using someone else's car club name (trademarked or not) that first person is STEALING. They are a thief, according to the laws on copyright, trademark, etc. Why are some of us saying that "stealing" is O.K.? I know we can get down to the fine points of the law and lawyers can argue forever about it; BUT its is still stealing. If there was a drunk is some bar wearing one of these T-shirts making a complete jerk of himself, he is sullying the name of the car club. Would you want your club reputation ruined by this drunk? NO. You have to protect your name and reputation from some two-bit tee shirt company in Montana stealing your name and potentially ruining your reputation. Why do you think that Ryan, Nike and the Hells Angels, among many others,have vigorously protected their "intellectual property"? Because its THEIR creative work and they don't want someone else to profit from, nor sully the reputation of their hard work.

If I was the car clubs in question, I'd send cease and desist letters to this two-bit tee shirt company and force them to prove they own the name. Ryan had to do something similar this past year, if you older members will recall.

And you don't have to go to the USPTO. Most states, including Arizona, allow you to register trade names and trademarks, etc. I did that when I first started my engineering company. It cost me $15 per tradename and trademark (I did several variations of both) and it costs me $15 every 5 years. Cheap protection. I'm currently working on the USPTO paperwork.

Example of the problems. I am the only Maynard Whatever listed in the phone book. I've had several phone calls over the years from people looking for a Maynard Construction Co. and wondering if I am them. These angry people have been screwed by these contractor jerks and wonder if I am connected with them in anyway. The answer is always a polite no and then I refer them to the State Register of Contractors. The point is, that you can be conneted to a thieving jerk just by having a name that is similar or part of theirs. You have to protect yourself and your good name from the thieving rip-off "artists" in the world.

And that's my nickle's worth.

 

..........gawd, I got upside down at Ventura and never got on a t shirt! I did get sponsored by the track photog. with a nice black & white 8 X 10.

 

these are shirts with club names on them.not your avarage hot rod shirt.we take alot of pride in are club and DONT let any one but MEMBERS were our stuff.it just sucks that EVERY one has been jumping on the ''secne's '' band wagon latley and trying to profit off of it,or trash it!

 

You can't copyright a name but you can trademark a name. Copyright is automatic on anything artistic so if you are the first and can prove it you're inther like swimwear. Down side is all they have to do is change it 20%.

Trademark costs money about 368.00 back in the 90s when I trademarked porknbean for publication and clothing. You have to decide what the trademark covers and there is a ton of info to cover on federal site. I don't recall the addy but google it. it will end in .gov

 

lmao!


How are we all gonna be conforming non-conformists when all the conformists take over our non-uniform?


this would almost make a good south park episode

 

you were photographed in a public place. anyone can use it. You didn're create a name and logo with you upside down and have someone take it and make money off it.

 

BUHWHAHAHAHAHAH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

There goes the bus, but someone sure missed it!

Its not about the look, the scene, or any of that. It is about the money (for someones hard work) going to the wrong place (some dork that pirated it).


Now this one is in the grey area here but:

For you that talked about stealing the music and software, I see your point, but, you didnt steal the software and music to re-sell it and make a profit off it, your just using it. (It is a fine line of amount of wrongness here). Yes, you are in the wrong, yes, these logo pirates are wrong, it is just a matter of how much wrongness is worth action here.

To explain: I seriously doubt Ryan would Cry if you were to paint the Word "HAMB" inside your own garage door. Is it your's, no, is it that big a deal that you use it yourself, probably not enough to warrant action. BUT, if you opened a business painting "HAMB" on all sorts of stuff and made profit off Ryan's work and his board that he pays for himself.......well there just might be a talk coming your way from Germ and some of his finer chronies.

 

This is fucked, it's wrong, it's disrespectful and I urge everyone who's affected to write these assholes and tell them how you feel.

 

PS, the original Cincinatti Rumblers gave us their blessings to use their esteemed name. We are grateful and honored, these fucks at this clothing company need to have their heads smashed in.

I'm sick and fucking tired of having every ascpect of what we hold dear being watered down and fed to the masses who want to appear to be like us.

I take this shit very seriously and even if I wasn't affected I would be pissed if even a single one of my worldwide hot-rodding brothers was.