A wedding officiant friend needs help with a PR about her law suit over trademark/site name rights that is bankrupting her. she really needs help
Posted by
zeitgeist
Oct 18 '11, 15:23
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Hi all,
I'm looking for help in figuring out how to complete this news item. Not sure just what my "call to action" should be or how best to distribute this. Any ideas?
Thank you!!
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A business owner and single mother of 3 in Lansing is being forced into bankruptcy due to a simple clerical error at the State's Trademark registration office.
Kya Rose found herself without any income or support after she reported her husband for sexually abusing their daughter back in 2005. Since then, she has found full-time employment with Community Mental Health working with developmentally disabled adults. In addition, she began providing services as a wedding officiant as All Ways Yours Wedding Ministries and has designed and performed customized wedding services for well over a hundred couples all over the state of Michigan.
In 2009, following some standard advice on enhancing her web presence, she registered the domain MiOfficiant.com and placed her business website there. In March of 2010 she was contacted by Gina Hamilton, another wedding officiant who said that she and her husband, Jeff, had service marked the phrase "Michigan Officiants" and that Ms. Rose's use of the MiOfficiant.com domain violated their mark. They asked that she not only give up using the URL, but also that she "immediately cease and desist from any use of the words `Michgian (sic) Officiants' in your web names and/or advertising." As an officiant serving in Michigan and as the director of the Michigan Independent Wedding Officiants Network (MIWON), Kya felt that she and all 20 of the members of MIWON had every right to call themselves Michigan Officiants, as that is exactly what they are.
On further investigation of the Hamilton's claims, Ms. Rose discovered that the Michigan Trademarks and Service Marks Act 242 specifically prohibits the registration of marks that are "�merely descriptive or deceptively misdescriptive of the goods or services, or when applied to the goods or services of the applicant, is primarily geographically descriptive..." The word officiant is merely a descriptive term for one who officiates, especially a wedding; likewise the word Michigan is primarily geographical. Unfortunately, despite clear language prohibiting the registration of this mark, it was granted and Mr. and Mrs. Hamilton felt they had every right to enforce it.
In July of 2010, the Hamiltons brought a suit against Ms. Rose demanding, among other things, that she refrain from using their mark. Because both Ms. Rose and the trademark attorney she consulted on the matter felt that it would be impossible for Ms. Rose or any other wedding officiant in the state of Michigan to comply with these demands and continue to effectively conduct business, Ms. Rose was forced to respond and move forward with the lawsuit rather than agree to the demands made. At the time, both Ms. Rose and her attorneys felt that the lawsuit would be heard and judged within a few months and that the legal fees would total about $5,000. Ms. Rose didn't take on this lawsuit for frivolous reason, but to protect her ability and the ability of all MIWON members to continue to do business in the state and use the standard terms necessary to do so.
Back in 2005, when Ms. Rose found herself unexpectedly without means of financial support, she applied for and received state food and Medicaid coverage for her children. Despite her full-time work and business income, she remained eligible for this aid as her income still didn't exceed the guidelines for a family of four.
As of this week, the Michigan Officiants case continues to crawl through the court system though another hearing is scheduled for this October 31st. Ms. Rose's legal fees are now expected to reach and/or exceed $16,000 with little to no hope of the judge awarding sanctions for either party.
In addition, Ms. Rose now finds herself without food assistance as the DHS rules do not allow her business's legal fees as a valid business expense. Despite the fact that All Ways Yours Wedding Ministries has effectively lost nearly $2,000 in 2011 and Ms. Rose is still expecting a bill for $6,000 for October's legal services, DHS insists that Ms. Rose has made over $2,400 in self-employment income in 2011 and that the Rose family is now ineligible for support.
As a result of one clerical error and the resulting legal fallout surrounding it, a family that managed to climb its way out of poverty, now finds itself back at the brink of bankruptcy.
Can you help?
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