attorney and partner in silicon valley. he s a santa cruz resident and surf. i was outraged someone could claim trademark to surf city usa. trademarks like coca-cola or exxon are used to identify a brand. they can be registered with the government and protected by law. bruce innocently thought a great t-shirt would be surf city santa cruz, california, usa. unbeknownst to him somebody else claimed to have trademark rights. my mom was freaking out, she thought she would lose the business, her house, swimming pool. she was frightened at her age she could lose everything. so was i a little bit. when big organizations take on small mom and pops like the nolands, the cost of fighting back isn t worth it. when ted offered legal as far as force free that allowed them to fight back. the result, a compromise
desist. here is a story on how they almost lost everything. santa cruz is a northern california beach town with a reputation for great surfing. catching the waves here is so popular that the locals call their town surf city. you look around town, you see surf city barber shops, surf city cafe, surf city everywhere. bruce knonoland is the third generation on the wharf which has been serving businesses for 50 years. a year ago he dashed off a t-shirt design he hoped would catch on big time. we moved around some letters, this looks good surf city santa cruz. soon after it went on sale it caught the attention of a rival surfing community 400 miles to the south. bruce s mother and co-owner got an upsetting notice. she came to us with a letter