There has been a "rumor" circulating that the Daytona Regional Chamber of Commerce has been threatening to sue area businesses using the phrase "Bike Week" in advertising for trademark infringement.
Nothing could be further from the truth, says Nancy Keefer, the chamber's president and CEO.
"The term 'Bike Week' can be used by anyone. In fact, we encourage it," she said when asked about the rumor.
On the other hand, using the official Bike Week logo without authorization by the chamber is definitely a no-no, she said.
"It's a registered trademarked logo that can only be used by the official sponsors of Bike Week," Keefer said.
The chamber has been managing the annual Bike Week event each year since 1988 through an agreement with the city.
In addition to serving as chief organizer, the chamber also produces its own official Bike Week T-shirt and operates the official Bike Week welcome center and website.
"We have trademarked the words 'World's Largest Motorcycle Event,' which is part of the annual logo for the event," Keefer added. "The logo can't be used for promotion unless an appliocation is submitted for a license to use the official logo."
WHY 'BIKE WEEK' CAN'T BE TRADEMARKED
In 2010, a little-known New York holding company tried to claim that it had obtained the rights to the trademark for the phrase Daytona Beach Bike Week — for a mere $87.50 — by applying for those rights on a State of Florida website.
The company, which was affiliated with a local T-shirt maker, even sent out letters to competing T-shirt makers threatening to take legal action against any who produced goods simply using the phase Daytona Beach Bike Week.
The chamber hired local law firm Cobb Cole to successfully contest that claim and to block its bid to obtain a federal trademark on the phrase.
Cobb Cole attorney Heather Vargas told The News-Journal at the time that the New York company did not have the legal right to the phrase Daytona Beach Bike Week because it wasn't something that could be trademarked.
That's because names that are descriptive, as in the case of Daytona Beach Bike Week, or generic, as in the term Bike Week, cannot be protected under trademark law, said Vargas.
"Registrations don't mean anything if they're not based on an actual ownership of the mark," Vargas told The News-Journal in 2010. "People have been printing merchandise with the phrase 'Daytona Beach Bike Week' for decades."
Vargas is a board-certified intellectual property attorney who today is also president and managing partner of Cobb Cole.
This past week, she spoke again with The News-Journal about that dispute, which the chamber won.
"What the chamber did back then was take up the cause to ensure that everyone could use the phrase Daytona Beach Bike Week without fear of harassment because the term is generic," she said.
"Nancy (Keefer)'s got it exactly right. The chamber does own the trademark for the logo and can prohibit people from claiming they are the official blank of Bike Week," Vargas said. "But anyone that wants to print a T-shirt that says Daytona Beach Bike Week should absolutely do it."
Clayton Park can be reached at clayton.park@news-jrnl.com or at 386-681-2470.