Re: [Leica] Re: Lone Cypress trademard

[Dante Stella <dante@umich.edu>]

Lone Pine is probably also too descriptive to be a trademark.

On Fri, 15 Jun 2001, Jim Brick wrote:

> At 10:04 AM 6/15/01 -0400, Rob McElroy wrote:
> >For All,
> >
> >Then comes the issue of the famous Lone Cypress tree that sits out on the
> >rocks off the coast of Northern California on the beautiful 17-Mile Drive in
> >the Carmel / Monterey area. It is a very popular tourist destination and the
> >tree has been photographed by virtually every visitor with a camera that
> >has seen it in the past 100 years.  You must pay a fee to drive down this
> >beautiful stretch of coastline dotted with expensive homes, picturesque
> >views, the Pebble Beach golf course, etc.  The tree is now protected from
> >being photographed by professional photographers who plan to sell or
> >distribute the image of Mother Nature's beautiful lone cypress.  I doubt
> >whether the owner of the land/rocks the tree sits on was able to secure a
> >legally enforceable copyright (it is after all, not a creative work created
> >by man, although maybe Mother Nature could claim a copyright on it.)  I do
> >believe the symbol of the tree is now trademarked though, and there was some
> >heated discussion about this a few years ago when photographers using a
> >tripod were prohibited from photographing it because of "trademark and/or
> >copyright laws."  I believe the restriction is still being enforced but I
> >don't think it has ever been challenged in court.
> >
> >Regards,
> >Rob McElroy
> >Buffalo, NY
>
> I live and photograph out here in Lone Cypress land. I photographed the
> Lone Cypress in 1989 for use in our regional books. I use it as the cover
> of one of our books.
>
> We were threatened legal action by Pebble Beach who used some big name law
> firm in Washington DC to send me "we're going to clean you out because you
> are infringing our trademark."
>
> I immediately learned everything I could about trademark and did a
> trademark search on the Lone Cypress and all derivations. Nada! And in
> there ad's, they use "Lone Cypress ® " which, of course, is illegal. You
> cannot claim a "registered" trademark when you actually don't have one.
> None were applied for, and their original application was "abandoned."
>
> I gave the threats over to the ASMP legal council who did all of my
> answering for me. Basically the ASMP told Pebble Beach to "go pound sand."
> Whether or not PB was actually going to take it to court was based on the
> R&R HOF case. Had Chuck Gentile lost, PB would probably have pursued it.
> But Chuck won and PB went away. And PB has since been purchased back from
> the Japanese by Clint Eastwood and friends. It is now a more friendly place.
>
> During the time when all artists were hassled, the local folks (Monterey
> Peninsula) hated PB and did not patronize them. This is bad publicity. Bad
> publicity spreads fast. I think Clint and friends know this.
>
> The reason they won't let you take "professional" photographs of the Lone
> Cypress is because that is the only way they have of protecting it. It is
> private property and they can control all uses of the property. But they
> cannot keep artists from using photographs, drawings, etc of the rock and
> tree, in saleable artwork.
>
> A lot of the PB restrictions I feel are left over from the previous owners.
>
> Jim
>