The us shifts gears

 As people ask why the hells angels trademark is  continuing to be used in Russia and the compensation therefore returned to the American corporation?

MORNING MIX

The feds spent a decade trying to seize the Mongol club’s notorious patch. A judge ruled they can’t have it.

By Fred Barbash

 and 

Meagan Flynn

 

March 1, 2019 at 5:48 a.m. EST

Los Angeles County Sheriff Lee Baca speaks during a news conference in 2008 with the trademarked Mongols logo seen on a motorcycle at right. (Ric Francis/AP)

There it is in the Patent and Trademark Office’s registry: an image of a muscly Genghis Khan-type character cruising along on a motorcycle, shirtless beneath a black vest, wearing black shades and a pony tail and clutching a sword.

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Like all the millions of trademarks featuring duly registered images — Top Paw’s hammocks for pets or Swell Coffee Co.’s scoops for coffee lovers — the Mongols Motorcycle Club patch’s registration features a simple description. The mark is supposed to indicate “membership in an association dedicated to motorcycle riding appreciation.”

But if you ask federal prosecutors, the saber-wielding man on the backs of the Mongols’ leather jackets is not so innocent.