Current and former members of iconic punk band Black Flag are facing off over allegations of trademark infringement, according to The Hollywood Reporter. Claiming him and his label, SST Records, own the rights to the Black Flag name and uneven bars logo, Greg Ginn, the founding guitarist of the Hermosa Beach punk group, is suing his ex-bandmates, alleging their band, Flag, infringes on the logo and the name.
Although Henry Rollins, Black Flag’s most famous former member, is named as a defendant in the suit, he is not a member of Flag. However, he stands accused, along with Flag member Keith Morris, of filing false and fraudulent trademark applications for the use of the Black Flag name and logo with the US Patent and Trademark Office, according to a MTV Hive report.
“They forced us to do this, because not only do we need to bring an opposition to the trademark application in the trademark office, but we also need to bring what’s called a cancelation action for cancelation of the existing mark – for the four bars,” said Evan Cohen, Ginn’s attorney. “Then we also found out that they’re also selling bootleg T-shirts on the tour and then they started – about halfway through the tour – they started using the actual bars, not the even bars, but the uneven bars. It’s like they ratcheted up their usage of the Black Flag materials and it came to a point where we couldn’t not sue them.”
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Quick Klein Extra: Walmart was denied in its 2006 attempt to trademark the smiley face.
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