U.S. Patent Office denies trademark request from Dykes on Bikes

[Bush_Eats_Beef]

Biker group's name deemed too vulgar for trademark

By Truong Phuoc Khánh

Mercury News

http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/news/local/12138818.htm

``Dykes on Bikes'' may be an empowering slogan reclaimed by motorcycle-riding lesbians who have the honored role of kicking off gay pride parades every year, but the federal government deems the term too vulgar to be trademarked.

The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office has refused to license the name to the non-profit San Francisco Women's Motorcycle Contingent, which started out 30 years ago as a small band of female riders who informally called themselves Dykes on Bikes, roaring down Market Street every year for gay pride. The name caught on and other groups across the country freely, proudly, borrowed it, but ``Dykes'' was never registered as a trademark.

In the May decision, an attorney for the trademark office wrote that ``the term dyke is considered vulgar, offensive, and/or disparaging.''

Members of San Francisco's gay community were stunned. ``Dyke is a very positive word within the lesbian gay community and Dykes on Bikes are beloved,'' said Shannon Minter, one of the attorneys representing the San Francisco group, which is appealing the decision. ``They're seen as a symbol of pride for lesbians in particular.''