–Ben Kwan, Attorney
It’s the week between Christmas and New Year – which hopefully means you find yourself with a little R&R time. R&R in our household always includes time to read purely for pleasure. With that, I’d like to share one of my favorite pieces of legal journalism from the past month, it’s especially worth sharing today from my remote workstation in the desert Southwest, land of cactus, scorpions, and – as it turns out – renegade bikers trademark enforcers.
Yes, that’s right, the infamous Hells Angels Motorcycle Club is cutting against its own outlaw image, with more than a dozen federal court lawsuits in just the past seven years, aimed in part at protecting its own outlaw image. The New York Times’s Serge Kovaleski documents how the Hells Angels “collectively made a leap from image to brand” and the verve with which the club fights to protect that brand. You trademark and branding folks will love the piece for the colorful lawyer who represents the Hells Angels. I mean, the guy brands himself as the Lawyer from Hell.
Speaking of holiday reading, I just got into Simon Winchester’s The Men Who United the States. It’s a fascinating history of the United States organized around the five elements: wood, fire, earth, metal, and water. Intellectual property law has its proper place within the book, including a portion devoted to Samuel Morse’s United States Patent No. 1,647.
Happy Holidays to you and yours, but in this instance, mostly you–because I hope you’re indulging in a little reading for fun! What are you reading? Do share!