OFF THE WIRE
Fritz Clapp, a 67-year-old lawyer with a bright red mohawk, practices
intellectual property law. Years ago, his clients were "small-time
businesses that nobody had ever heard of." Then he found something
bigger. Today, Mr. Clapp, an eloquent and irreverent man known to wear a
purple fez during negotiations with other lawyers, represents the
interests of a group not commonly associated with intellectual property:
the Hells Angels Motorcycle Club. His main role is not as a bulldog
criminal defense counsel for the notorious group but as a civilized
advocate in its relentless battle to protect its many registered
trademarks.
Just in the past seven years, the Hells Angels have
brought more than a dozen cases in federal court, alleging infringement
on apparel, jewelry, posters and yo-yos. The group has also challenged
Internet domain names and a Hollywood movie — all for borrowing the
motorcycle club's name and insignias. The defendants have been large,
well-known corporations like Toys "R" Us, Alexander McQueen, Amazon,
Saks, Zappos, Walt Disney and Marvel Comics. And they have included a
rapper's clothing company, Dillard's and a teenage girl who was selling
embroidered patches on eBay with a design resembling the group's "Death
Head" logo.
The Hells Angels remain etched in the popular
imagination as sullen, heavily muscled men in leather vests who glare
from behind raised handlebars, ready to take on anyone who crosses them —
rebels with no particular cause but their own form of ritualized
brotherhood. But over the years, the group collectively made a leap from
image to brand, becoming a recognizable marque and promoting itself on
items as varied as T-shirts, coffee mugs and women's yoga pants. Sonny
Barger, 75, the longtime Hells Angels leader, at times has offered his
own online bazaar of goods that bear his name: sunglasses, bottles of
cabernet sauvignon and books he has written.
With more to sell
and more to protect, the Hells Angels' turn toward the litigious comes
with a twist: The bikers are increasingly calling on the same legal
system they deride as part of the machinery that has unfairly defined
them as criminals.
In fact, they have become more conscious of
protecting their image from misuse even as law enforcement officials
have cracked down on the Hells Angels, saying they represent a criminal
gang on six continents, trafficking drugs and guns and engaging in money
laundering, extortion and mortgage fraud.
These conflicting
portraits — biker club versus biker mafia — took shape in numerous
interviews with Hells Angels members, defense lawyers, prosecutors and
federal agents and in a wide review of legal filings and internal Hells
Angels documents. The group's less confrontational side has emerged as
its aging membership has been refreshed by new members from a
historically familiar source — recent military veterans — and as
motorcycling in general has risen in popularity across the country.
"We
stabbed and slabbed people left and right in the day, but that way is
less common now," said Richard Mora, known as Chico, a Hells Angels
member in the Phoenix chapter.
Even so, 65 years after the Hells
Angels was founded in Fontana, Calif., it still exists as a uniquely
American subculture of hardened individualism, fierce fraternity and
contempt for society's mores.
In its rule-bound world, only full
members are permitted to wear the provocative death's-head patch or the
two words of the club's name, which, like the logo, is trademarked by
the organization. Separately, the group sells so-called support
merchandise to the public on club websites and at Hells Angels parties
and charity events. Recently the club opened a retail store in Toronto.
Designations
such as 81 (H and A are the eighth and first letters of the alphabet)
and Big Red Machine (Hells Angels' colors are red and white) are on an
array of goods, including T-shirts (children's sizes available),
beanies, tank tops, bikinis, underwear, pins, cigars, key chains, window
decals and calendars.
The bikers generally settle their lawsuits
on favorable terms, extracting concessions from the accused parties by
getting them to stop using the trademarks, destroy and recall
merchandise and, in a few instances, pay some damages.
http://www.cnbc.com/id/101235239
