Help They Stole My Car Club!!!

[ QUOTE ]
you could dispute there copyrights you have the original tapes they dont!!!! seems you have more rights to the name than them you could claim they are theives just because they went to court and took some action does not mean it cant get it over turned you might find someone to take the case pro bono since a car club is pretty much a non profit

[/ QUOTE ]


I think this is the way to go

 

I just wished we had something like that (a club)in our neck of the woods.
r

 

Our club is made up of guys who're fed up with clubs.
We have no name, no rules, no dues, no paperwork, no politics. No members. Most are or were in other clubs. West Coast Customs, Prowlers, Guys & Dolls, E.I.E.I.O., Coachmen, SCTA, etc.
But we're our own group. Somebody needs help, we jump in. Somebody wants to do a cruise somewhere, we hop in the cars and go. Someone says, hey, let's hold a car show for the old folks home, we do it. We don't exist, but we know who we are. Best damned car club I've ever been in. Kinda like a local version of the HAMB...

 

My guess on an answer to your question is that there is such a thing as the poor-man's copyright. Take copies of your documentation of the thing that you are trying to copyright and stuff them in an envelope and mail them to yourself. Don't open the envelope when you get it. There will be a postmark on it (an official government stamp) that states the date that you came up with your "thing". In the mean time, register for the copyright or trademark. That will protect you from the beginning.
Won't do any good in this case, however. My question to you is do you have pictures or documentation from when you produced the tapes, etc that could prove that you were there first and the club/property is yours?
Michael

 

The "poormans copyright" is an urban myth that will not hold up in court.
You have no way of proving you didn't mail yourself an empty,unsealed,envelope several years ago.
It doesn't prove the envelope was sealed when it was post marked.
It could have been sealed,or resealed,at any time after it was post marked.

Copyrights include the rights to make derivitive works.
That's why you can't use Trademarked names,or marks,on Tshirts etc.
without a license from the trademark holder,like Harley Davidson,Indian,
Ford,Chevy,Mopar,Disney,Roth,etc.
A variation on a name could be considered a derivitive work.

There are strong similarities between Mickey Mouse,and Rat Fink.
But no one would confuse the two.

The similarities between "Rickshaws",and "Rickshaw Rebels" are difficult to ignore,
the name "Rickshaw Rebels" is obviously derived from the original "Rickshaws",
and if in fact they have trademarked the name "Rickshaws",you might be out of luck.
Especially since these are both car clubs in the same area,any confusion could undermine the value of the original trademark.

Try calling your group "Harley Davidson Rebels","Chevy Rebels,or "Hell's Angles and Rebels",
and see what happens.
Just because the name is SLIGHTLY different,isn't always enough to keep you out of trouble.

Even if they did trademark the name without owning the rights,which I doubt,
they still don't own those tapes.That was "work for hire",and they would have to buy them from you,
or get new ones made at their cost.

But at the same time,just because you have the tapes doesn't automatically mean you have all rights to the name and images.






Groucho Marx was right:"I would never join a club that would have me as a member".

 

I lived in Riverside Ca. all my life. the rickshaws were well established there in 59 and had been aound some time then. The club isn't new and was and I suppose still is very popular. My cousin Kerry Totten was a member in the early sixties and now that I live in Arkansas I had given some thought to starting the club here. I am disappointed in the number of people claiming to "own" the name. Or be founders. Robbie Rash and Wayne Leonard were the founders in Riverside as I recall. As I am a 66 year old hot rod builder and Biker, maybe I am one of the jerks. Maybe the club was formed in many places at about the same time and no one person owns it.

 

Talk with an attorney.

Sent from my SM-G930T using The H.A.M.B. mobile app

 

Holy ancient thread, Batman!

 

How was he "dispatched"? Hope there aren't any telltale skidmarks on his skull ! LOL

 

I remember the Rickshaws being around Riverside when I was a kid.

 

Old thread but I admire and respect the work it takes for clubs to run events and the club itself. I'm a MSRA member and a fantastic job is done with the Back to the 50's show. I hate how homogenized and diverted the everything to everybody (ice cteam social) aspect dilutes the original car club origins. Ladies Showcase, Craft show, pop tabs, scholarships, adopt a highway, for example. All good things don't get me wrong but enjoyed even more the now gone Pile Up, Messaround for the more laid back feel, less politics traditional aspect of cars and buddies. Be interesting to know the outcome of original posters club.

 

No kidding, 13 year old thread back from the dead, even the op hasn't been on here for 5 years. FWIW, the guys did drop the Rickshaw club and Jay's Dad started a new one, the "Nomads" which was another old name from here in the 50's. They had me design the art work and I hold the copyright to it, they wanted it that way so no one could steal it again. Dumb I thought, since I could sell/ give it to anyone I want, not that I would but they didn't want to hassle registering the club as a non profit and getting their own copyright.
Jay's Dad is a close friend of mine and a great guy but he had visions of starting the Rickshaws back as a club he remembered as a kid years ago, he even hoped for another club shop where members would hang out, drink beer and work on their cars. Worked in the 50's as a bunch of 20ish year old guys, really not realistic or even feasible for a bunch of old guys today. The Nomads really got no farther the having a few plaques made and neither them or the Rickshaws have had any presence here in the last 10 years or so.

 

I was 'drafted' into no less than 4 clubs in the '50s and '60s...I only lasted a month or two in each, as it took me that long to realize they were a one way street.
I was a mechanic. The 'club shops' were pretty much all the same, each member brought in something of use...a battery charger, My torches, some miscellaneous hand tools, My grinders, a creeper, My workbenches, an old desk, My compressor, and like that.
They kept me real busy, all of 'em. Lower Al's '50 Chevy. "Hey, Al...Wanna get under here and loosen these 'U' bolts?
Busy doin' what?? Oh...yeah, guess that chrome does need some polishing..."
Started out with Billy Ambrose and his '30 Roadster, Jim Rose and his chopped '40 Coupe, Lynn Shelby and his channeled '34 five window, Stu Gates and his channeled 'A' Coupe.
Then there were the 'high school rides...' '50-'53 Chevys, '49 Plymouths, couple of stock shoeboxes...
All of 'em wanted the plaque and jacket. "the Wheelin' Saints".
That was the first one. (or was it the second?)
The fourth (and final) was the one where guys brought their wives in, and the wives said, "The Drags! Why do we have to go there? Rather go to the Autorama!"
Right after I left, president (?) Vierra voted his wife in as the new president. Can't remember their first names, but Vierra was a big dude, and he handed over his jacket to her, and it was TOO SMALL!
That club was the "Ancients"... Got old in a hurry.

Say, what about that recent call to arms to save another famous old club? None other than Bo Hopkins, chief Pharaoh in Amer Graff, wasn't he offering some kind of membership for a 'dues deal'? Now, that...

 

club bullshit, I have been there for the last time, Lone Wolf forever!!

 

Seems like if you trademark or some shit don't you go down that legal rabbit hole? Now you got to file forms for no profit, profit, and....... wait..... taxes? To much BS for me. We just ordered our plaques from O'Brian called us a club.

 

Car clubs. A 9 hunert year old thread and someone stole my car club.

Now here is something relevant when I was in high school someone got in my car and stole my used condom collection.

 

A Zombie thread!

 

clubs are for seals