Mark Cresswell first thought of pursuing a trademark for the Hollister Motorcycle Rally brand in early 2013 when potential sponsors asked him about licensing rights for use on apparel and other goods.
“Can we put Hollister Rally on the Budweiser T-shirts?” Cresswell recalled hearing from a beer distributor, referring to the latest, official title for the city’s signature event.
Cresswell, the rally’s North Carolina-based, private manager, followed up and realized that nobody – even the city – had maintained a registered trademark for the Hollister Motorcycle Rally, Hollister Rally or other variations on the name.
Registering the brand with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office would give the contracted manager, then in his first year running the Fourth of July event, sole rights to sell or license the brand on popular apparel and other goods sold at the rally and elsewhere. The name has been the main driver of sales on T-shirts and other souvenirs related to the city’s tradition, which draws tens of thousands of visitors – some years’ historical estimates have put total attendance figures at more than 100,000 – over Independence Day weekend.
As Cresswell moved ahead on his pursuit of the rally trademarks, Hollister Mayor Ignacio Velazquez vehemently objected – and still does – against the hired manager’s attempt to register them. The mayor, with the disagreement spurring tension in the relationship between Velazquez and the manager, argued with Cresswell at the time that the city had an inherent right to the Hollister motorcycle rally name and related trademarks.
After Cresswell filed for a slew of phrases before last year’s rally, though, he didn’t hear from the city during the 30-day objection period. He did hear from Ohio-based Abercrombie & Fitch, the $2.8 billion retailer that owns the Hollister Co. apparel brand – based on a fictional, beachside version of Hollister in California – with the tagline “So Cal inspired clothing for Dudes and Bettys.”
Abercrombie, which stirred up local residents and business interests in 2007 when it threatened a local clothing shop using the Hollister name in a jeans line, is objecting to Cresswell’s pursuit of trademarks related to the Hollister Rally. Cresswell said the company claims it owns the Hollister brand and other variations on the name, while Abercrombie has registered a slew of phrases using the Hollister moniker.
Since then, Cresswell said Abercrombie & Fitch – which did not respond to Hollister Free Lance inquiries before press time – has filed repeated extensions on its initial objection to the trademark applications, delaying finality to any of the decisions.
Attorneys for Abercrombie and Cresswell have communicated intermittently with each other over the dispute, the manager said.
“They don’t get to decide,” Cresswell said of Abercrombie.
Cresswell, however, won’t necessarily get much help from Velazquez. The mayor said he is not pleased that the hired manager went and applied for the rally-related trademarks. Velazquez also believes the city should have the ability to obtain trademarks related to the rally, with its Hollister roots dating back to the largely embellished 1947 “invasion” of the town by bikers inspiring the movie “The Wild One.” The first sanctioned city-sanctioned rally took place in 1997.
“The city should own the rights. The city has a right to its own name,” said Velazquez, who believes the rally brand has immense intrinsic value for the community.
Velazquez said Cresswell would have to “fight this by himself.”
The mayor may not have been counting on support from other locals – such as Charisse Tyson, owner of the iconic Hollister bar, Johnny’s Bar & Grill.
Her bar uses the name of Marlon Brando’s character in “The Wild One.”
“It’s the name of our city. How can they even play that game?” said Tyson from the restaurant kitchen Tuesday. “And the city trumps the Hollister Clothing Co. It was the City of Hollister long before.”
She went on, referring to the city’s founder: “Col. Hollister – what was it, in the 1800s or something? Come on.”
Tyson called the motorcycle rally tradition “imperative to who we are.”
“What else are you going to call it – the California Motorcycle Rally?” Tyson said. “Well, we are going to be the biggest thing. It’ll be so huge, they could.”
She mentioned how Johnny’s also sells its own shirts at the rally and throughout the year. They include a design, the business name and “Hollister, California” as well.
“Are you going to tell me I can’t put Hollister on my shirts now?” she said.
Up until now, Hollister Co. has aimed its threats at businesses and not the city itself.
“We, the city, have not been served a claim or a cease-and-desist letter,” said Brad Sullivan, Hollister’s contracted attorney with an intellectual property background.
He shared thoughts on the prospect of concerns over the rally brand as a whole, and the city’s attachment to it.
“It would be pretty hard for a company to tell a city that was incorporated before they were that you can’t use your own name,” he said.
