Timeline History of our Trademark for "Rock City"
"Arbitration Complaint Form" -"Uniform Domain Name Dispute Resolution Policy"
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OVERVIEW
1987 - 2000 "Rock City"/"Rock City News" became famous in Hollywood as it's local rock newspaper in the 80's and 90's on the "Sunset Strip. " It's coverage included almost every local band that made it big from Hollywood, such as The Red Hot Chili Peppers, L.A. Guns, Guns 'n' Roses, Jane's Addiction, Bullet Boys, Warrant, Sugar Ray, Lit, Poison, and more.
Major coverage was given in "Rock City" to the resurgance of the rock scene on the "Sunset Strip," in the late 80's with the grand re-opening of the Whisky A Go Go, plus the other Sunset Strip clubs. The Roxy Theater, the Rainbow Bar & Grill, and Gazzarri's were regularly featured through the 80's and 90's.
"Rock City" / "Rock City News" as L.A.'s Rock newspaper, represents 17 years of rock music in Los Angeles, and is a photo journal of significant historical and cultural value, and has preserved the timeline of L.A.'s rock scenes, bands, and clubs, as they developed in Hollywood and the Sunset Strip.
"Rock City" is also a music entertainment organization that:
1. Has sponsored and promoted many local rock shows over 12 years.
2. Does annual "'Rock City Awards" shows honoring L.A.'s best bands.
3. Airs these shows on public access TV channels throughout L.A.
4. Puts out local band compilation CD's to help promote bands.
5. Sponsors many bands to help further their careers.
6. Built a free rock music listening service for local bands.
7. Donates public service ads and community announcements.
8. Provides local rock news, plus original bands, video, rock music, and multi-media on a global computer network. We have vigourously promoted our website on the world wide web since 1996.
Publisher/photographer Ruben Lee Lopez/Ruben MacBlue has documented L.A.'s rock scene and photographed thousands of bands, including almost every major band to come out of Los Angeles in the past 20 years.
TIMELINE
(This timeline was written by myself, Ruben Lee Lopez and "we" is myself)
6/30/83It all began when we started a weekly rock magazine for Los Angeles named "Scratch Magazine." It covered L.A.'s local rock club scene thoroughly and exclusively for three years.
5/23/84We filed fictitious business names for: "Ruben Blue," "Scratch Magazine," Scratch Television/TV," "Scratch Video," "Scratch Productions," "Scratch Entertainment."
84 - 1986Scratch Magazine was published weekly and sponsored events, as well as doing a weekly cable TV show, for 3 years.
6/10/86We filed a fictitious business name for "L.A. Rocks."
6/26/86"Scratch Magazine" changed it's name to "L.A. Rocks!," a bi-weekly free newspaper for L.A.'s rock scene. L.A. Rocks! was a larger "tabloid" size and with an increased circulation. We continued the tradition of featuring local bands and shows and sponsoring many events.
"L.A. Rocks" also had subscriptions across the United States.
7/21/87We filed a fictitious business name for "Rock City News."
10/2/87L.A. Rocks! changed it's name to "Rock City News" and continued publishing bi-weekly in Los Angeles from that date forward. There was no change in publishing schedule, content, look or subscriptions.
It was and still is, a free bi-weekly publication available at all local music clubs, record stores, music stores, and other rock businesses throughout L.A.
3/18/88 We filed a fictitious business name for "Rock City."
3/18/88 "Rock City News" began using "Rock City" in commerce in this issue, as subscriptions were sent across the country. We changed the logo to read "Rock City" instead of "Rock City News," although we always kept the "news" underneath in smaller letters. We also used "Rock City" inside each issue.
10/6/89We renewed fictitious business names for "Rock City" and "Rock City News"
7/11/95We renewed our fictitious names for "Rock City," adding "Rock City Records," "Rock City Audio" and "Instant Audio."
7/11/95We ran continuos promotional advertisements for "Rock City," "Rock City Records," "Rock City Audio" in many issues of Rock City /Rock City News, which was published citywide with subscriptions across the U.S.
12/15/96We opened our first internet Website, a personal account, with the domain name "www.pacificnet.net/~rockcity"
2/5/97We changed our account to a "Domain Name Account," and registered the name "rockcity.com" (so we thought)
2/8/97A few days later we were informed by pacificnet.net that the domain name "rockcity.com" was taken, so we had to use our second choice, "rockcitynews.com." Our server, Pacificnet.net, gave us the address and phone number of the registrant. It was registered to: J. Sloatman of "Only Multi-media Inc"
11684 Ventura Blvd #946, Studio City, CA 91604, 213-964-1053.
(further investigation now finds this address to be a P.O. box, and phone number gone)
2/8/97 We called J. Sloatman of "Only Multi-Media Inc" and left a message saying we wanted the name because we were already in business in his same city as "Rock City" and they were not using the name anyway.
He returned our call saying they were not presently using the name, but would use it in the future, and if we wanted to buy it, it would cost us $25,000. We told them we couldn't afford to pay that much.
He undoubtedly had heard of us, "Rock City," as we were famous as the local rock newspaper in his area since 1988, some 8 years before he registered the domain name.
Feb 1997- We searched the web and tried to find legal advice. I contacted another such "domain reality company" and asked what they thought, and got a reply saying I may win in court, where it would have to go.
2/12/97- We asked for help from "Network Solutions" and got a reply confirming we might get the domain name"rockcity.com" but would have to go to court to get it.
As a small business, with little knowledge of the internet at the time, we were unable to bring the case to court. Since "rockcity.com" was not being used, we had little choice but to wait for the legal system to sort out matters like this and set a precedent.
2/14/97We contacted an attorney, Ben McLane, regarding the matter, but he didn't really know about the internet. The trademark law regarding domain names was unsure at the time, and it was too costly for us to proceed with legal action.
1997 - 2000- We vigorously promoted and advertised our website, trying to build our internet presence, putting our website domain name "rockcitynews.com" on the front cover of our newspaper in huge letters every issue since January 1997.
We also ran continous advertising for the site in our newspaper.
Our readership is 45,000 people every two weeks, and we ran continuos ads for our website, hosted local bands web sites, and creating hundreds of local music related pages.
We put the domain name in all our writers columns, which we publish as a service on the internet, and we put up huge amounts of local music information as part of a massive website campaign.
We even built home pages for all of L.A.'s Rock Clubs and hosted them on our site, updating their listings every two weeks. This was, and still is, the best and most current L.A. club listings site on the internet.
1997 - 2000 - While building our website, we checked "rockcity.com" every few months, to see what happened to the name. The name was not used for three years, as it was being apparently held. ("squatted on")
Jan, 2000 - We checked again, and were surprised when a page actually loaded.
It was some kind of an online TV show called "Rock City" of some sort. They also had "Rock City News" logo on the front page, with the "Sunset Strip" show right next to it.
Not only was our name stolen by them, but the entire concept of the website was stolen from us as well. Apparently "Rock City" was a TV show about a band that went on tour which came to Los Angeles.
It seemed to be a bad faith attempt to use the image of our "famous" company "Rock City," for their commercial gain. The site is also claiming to be sponsored by Yahoo and Pepsi and mp3.
The name now was registered to:
John Kennedy/Irish Reality (relationship to J. Sloatman not presently known)
120 N. Robinson #2100, Oklahoma City, OK 73102
ph: 405-232-2100 - fax: 405-232-2107 - email: irish2100@aol.com
Site created on Dec 21, 1999
(screen capture photos of their website included as evidence)
Jan, 2000We immediately began researching the web for information on domain names and trademark infringement and began collecting our evidence for our trademark.
Feb 7, 2000 - We emailed "rockcity.com" (the email address on the web page), saying we were "Rock City" and had been since 1988, that we had tried to get the name "rockcity.com" in 1997, and that his use of the name was infringing on our trademark.
Feb 8, 2000 We received what appears to be an accidental (interoffice) email from a Wes Freidman, replying to our email, saying he would look into it. His email address is fredenburgw@ANCRental.com (enclosed for evidence)
Feb, 2000- We began to get complaints from people trying to go to our website using "rockcity.com." Everyone in L.A. just expected our website to be "rockcity.com."
People called on the phone to see what happened, and why the website didn't look right. They were confused because our logo was missing, the club and band listings weren't there, and it didn't look like our style. This has hurt our reputation.
Feb 24, 2000 We heard about a billboard somewhere on Sunset Blvd saying "Rock City.com." We also heard about rolling billboard saying "Rock City.com" somewhere in L.A.
Mar, 2000They replaced the "Rock City News" logo on their website with a "Rock City Buzz" logo.
Mar, 2000We consulted an attorney who is now helping us claim our trademark name.
Mar, 2000We filed U.S. Trademark forms for "Rock City" with the U.S. Trademark office and are awaiting our U.S. trademark and servicemark.
Mar, 2000We sent registered mail letters and email letters to the registrants, and they finally replied, a Wes Friedenburg, who said he was a principal of the company, which was a partnership of sorts. He was located in Minnesota or somewhere, and he seemed to purposely stall, delay and prolong negotiations in bad faith, thus prolonging their intentional trademark infringement.
Mar, 2000We downloaded all information and forms regarding trademark and domain rules and forms from the internet.
Mar, 2000We tried to find out from "Network Solutions" when the change of registration names took place. They replied saying we would need a court order to get that information.
April, 2000We were getting more complaints about their infringing website.
April, 2000We began seeking more legal advice. We got help from another attorney, Jon Hayes, a client from our newspaper, who is consulting with a trademark attorney, as well as with our attorney.
April, 2000Our Attorney informed us that negotiations with their attorney were getting nowhere, and they were not returning her phone calls.
May, 2000We found people in Hollywood were confused, and thought we had moved our office to Sunset Blvd. Even our regular clients were thinking "rockcity.com" was us. Even our neighbor's friend told us they saw the banner and thought we had moved to Sunset Blvd.
May 4th, 2000We ran an ad to see if anyone had heard of this "rock city" and got a bunch of answers telling us where they were located on Sunset Blvd.
We also got a call that day from someone trying to find "rockcity.com " regarding an ad they placed somewhere looking for a publicist. This shows they were not only ignoring our complaints of trademark infringement, but were planing even greater damage on a national level.
Their website already shows publicity quotes from newspapers across the country, including The Daily Trojan, USC, the Las Vegas Weekly, The GQ Hatchett, George Washington University, The Daily Texan, The Daily Oklahoman, The Morning Star, Wilmington N.C., and The Islander News, Key Biscane, FL.
May 5th, 2000We found their storefront office at 8778 Sunset Blvd. (phone: 310-855-0021), and saw their logo painted on the front door and a banner hanging on the side of the building. Their office is in the middle of the famous "Sunset Strip", with their front door open for the heavy foot traffic along this famous street.
Their office is upstairs from an art/collectable store called "Popular Culture Highway," at 8776 Sunset Blvd. (popularculture.com 310-360-1663), and the landlord that rents the property is Kay Warren. Our investigation confirms that they have been using the office regularly for about six months. They also boast on their website about thier high profile Sunset Strip office.
This proves that they are not in Oklahoma, but are here in Los Angeles, on the Sunset Strip, where we have been since 1988. (It appears they registered in Oklahoma because we were already registered (d.b.a.) in Los Angeles since 1988.)
(Photos of their office and banner on Sunset Blvd included for evidence)
May 9th, 2000We found that "rockcity.com" had filed for a trademark for "rockcity.com.." We are currently preparing opposition to this application with the information and evidence in this complaint.
May 11th, 2000Sources tell us that "rockcity.com" is actually owned by a famous Hollywood movie producer, Hunt Lowry, and the actual webpage confirms the site was founded and started by Hunt Lowry. However, his name is not on the registration.
We are proceeding with all legal action to obtain our rightful use of our name.
The damage is growing daily, and if not resolved quickly, could cause permanent damage to our trademark name and reputation, as well at permanent damage to the reputation of L.A.'s rock history.
One of our concerns is that, since "Rock CIty" / "Rock City News" is a complete photo journal of L.A.'s rock explosion in the late 80's and 90's, and is of historical value to the pop culture of America, that others may be damaged as well.
Some of the great bands, whose roots are from Rock City, and are currently being damaged by "rockcity.com's" trivializing of this rock music scene, include Guns n Roses, Sugar Ray, Korn, Lit, Warrant, Bullet Boys, and the Red Hot Chili Peppers.
Ruben Lee Lopez / Rock City / Rock City News
7030 De Longpre Ave, Los Angeles, CA 90028 - 323-461-6600
Rock City vs. rockcity.com - Table of Contents w/ evidence - Complaint - Grounds - Trademark /Timeline - Response Cover - Response - Response to Response - ICANN Decision - Our Opinion/Press Release - Call 323-461-6600 or email us.