Bill, how about our pal and his famous label he got at 7:30 in the morning when the PTO office opened in Honolulu, the day the mark expired
Oh you mean the guy that slept on the Courthouse steps overnight so he could be there first thing in the morning? Hey there’s more than one way to get a brand. I haven’t seen him in a while.
Back to the Tommy Sena deal, here’s what I don’t understand. While these names are iconic and meant something at one time, today they only have meaning to the cognizetti. And the few people who they mean something too are not going to buy them. The customers who buy the boards (dealers or consumers) are certainly not buying them for the name since they’ve most likely never heard of the names before anyway. They’re buying them, I would think. because they are cheap. Right?
Also, of the people who owned the names, and I can think of at least one, maybe two that I know personally (maybe even more, not sure all the names that are involved), they don’t really seem to care. If they did it would be easy to put a stop to it. Lawyer or no lawyer. I would think a phone call would do it.
I wonder if any of the original owners of the names have contacted Tommy and said, “Hey, stop”. It would be interesting to know that.
BalsaBill,
You make a great point. I am only interested in the Plastic Fantastic label because of my stepDad and would not want a new board with the label, just on old one. Its kinda funny thinking about it now. Not really sure what I would do wit hthe label if he did sell it to me. Probably nothing but my backyard boards to keep the name going in the right direction.
I also wonder if this will happen to labels of today in about 30 years???
Fred Wardy went to Sena about him using the name, he told Fred he should have been more diligent about protecting his name
Howzit aroq, If your dad worked for Gary Thernagle (spelling) then tell him Gary passed away a few years ago so he doesn't care who has the name now.RIP G.T. Aloha,Kokua
Kokua,
My stepDad passed away in 07. It was actually you that helped me on my search some time ago. In addition to information, you sent me a lam. Thanks for being the guy you are. I believe it was Danny Calahan (sp?) that he worked for and I forget the name of the guy that would be sent out to the east coast to collect if payments were late.
As posted before by Balsa Bill, rumor was that Simo had Danny Callahan held captive in Seaside, locked in a bathroom, police came to Simo’s shop looking for the victim, that time it was JUST rumor
US PTO registration trumps any local mark or registration there of; unless you are willing to contest the claim to the mark and can prove you have used that mark previous to any one else. Guys who don't trade mark are not notified that someone else is attempting to use your mark. If You have a TM that is current, you will be notified if someone attempts to hijack it. A TM is good for ten years if you want to keep it you'd better renew it in the proper time frame. An uncontested mark can cost as little as $500 including the fees or as much as several thousand if they are contested or are international. I'm not an attorney just a guy who has TM'ed his mark. Knew a local guy who registered his pizza parlor via a ficticious business name at the local county recorder. He was court ordered to "cease and decist(sp)". His name was ruled to be too close to a catch phrase that Little Caesars' used. The name of his pizza parlor --------- "Pizza! Pizza!. Try registering a TM with the word "Reef" in it; You'll see what I mean. The business registration used in Hawaii is essentially a fictious business name. Any one with money and lawyers can put that one down even in Hawaii. Don't know why Stuart Anderson didn't sue the steak house. Probably because the other guy was able to prove he had been using "Black Angus" longer.
Howzir aroq, Wayne Land was our collector for the East Coast flakes plus one hell of a shaper and I remember him telling us a story about one guy who was an ass but paid the bill. He took Wayne to the airport and some hows Wayne was able to put a lb of sugar in the gas Corvette gas tank at the airport. What a surprize he the guy got a couple of miles down the road. Wayne could be ruthless and our guy for collecting and always came through for us. Aloha,Kokua
I recently picked up a 6' 10" Plastic Fantastic that has "team board" printed on the stringer and the shapers name, Bill Stembridge. The shape is similar to Ben Aipa's stinger model. The serial number on the stringer is 1000. Pretty cool board. Not in great condition but still cool.
Bill Stembridge was a great HUNTINGTON BEACH shaper for many years. My first shaping bay was actually Bill’s room at the Chuck Dent factory. He is very talented.
Good find!
Kind regards,
surfding
Not the greatest photo but I had one as well from Custom SS. It was more like 70 or ‘71, and I remember the talk of bootleged boards. Mine was 5’ 11" Green opaque and delaminated quickly from the sun. We though they would let us surf like Jay Riddle from the Hal Jepsen movies. We even cut our fins down that year to something like 5" to do 360’s.
I’m not sure what you guys are trying to say here, but I am the one who owns this surfboard. And this original “PF” is not some east coast new knock off. It was given to me 18 years ago by my dads friend who grew up in HB and worked for “PF”. These photos were from my Craigslist ad to sell it. It’s a 6’8" by the way. My email address reflex my favorite local surf spot, Rockaway Beach, Pacifica, Ca. If you all value authentic surfboards I’ve got one…aroq your full of it on these pics, Kook.
Hi out there. I just found all these Joe Simo comments. (Thanks to George “G.H.” Thompson) They’re right on the money: especially the early comment from 2008 about Simo being a “pirate.” Ha-ha.
Simo sold me a Gordie, a Wetzel, a Morey-pope camel, and a Dusty Rhodes Love. (The Love was a real trippy board)
Then I worked summers for Joe at Custom from 1970 to 1973 and knew a lot about his assorted and sordid “deals.” His board pick-ups at Newark were always an adventure. A classics scam was “customer check OK.” Essentially, he’d write a check on a Carl David account. Who was Carl David? A long story.
But, Simo was a great boss. I once came in 5 hours late on a busy Saturday afternoon after surfing Hurricane Faith and he just shook his head and said, “Clean this place up. It’s been busy as hell. I really have to split. I hope you got some good waves.” And then he walked out the door and his wife drove him away.
I have a lot more if anyone out there is interested. Thanks to everyone for all these memories and thanks to G.H. I personally am still surfing a low key beach break out here in Santa Barbara. I think about those old days in Lavallette ever time I’m in the water.