Man has no grounds to be offended by 'Dykes on Bikes'
by
PageOneQ
Dublin, California attorney Michael McDermott has no legal grounds to be offended by the name Dykes on Bikes. That is the ruling issued by a three-judge panel in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit this week. McDermott filed a complaint with the United States Patent and Trademark Office in 2005, after the office granted the Dykes on Bikes trademark to the San Francisco motorcycle club. In his complaint, McDermott said the name was "disparaging to men and is scandalous and immoral." The USPTO denied his claim so he pursued a remedy through the court. The justices said that in order to oppose a trademark, McDermott would have to show "a reasonable basis for a belief that he would be damaged. The court said McDermott could not be harmed by the motorcyclists calling themselves dykes.
