The Sting of the Scorpion

The Sting of the Scorpion

Los Alacranes Fights For Its Name

LOS ANGELES, Oct. 13 /PRNewswire/ -- The original musical group Los Alacranes (The Scorpions), formed by Mr. Emilio Rojas Martinez, is out to get their name back. Mr. Rojas has hired ace trademark attorney, Cheryl Hodgson of H Law to represent him. Hodgson has filed an action before the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board against Aquila Records Inc. to cancel Aquila's trademarks registration Nos. 3170684 & 3416668 for the marks "ALACRANES MUSICAL." The Petition alleges prior use in commerce by Rojas as well as Fraud on the Trademark Office in obtaining the registrations by Aquila.

What's in a name? Apparently everything these days. According to Hodgson, Los Alacranes became increasingly known throughout the southwestern United States as a band devoted to the Mexican National genre, and specifically "duranguense," the regional sound of the Mexican State of Durango. The band performed locally in Arizona since the mid 1980's, releasing their own recordings, followed by a1990 release on Ayana Records entitled Los Alacranes de Durango. Rojas has his own pending applications at the Trademark Office, and is the owner of LOS ALACRANES in Mexico, with a date of first use of September 1985. Los Alacranes has recorded and released six CD's and continue to perform their music today.

Rojas' cancellation proceeding comes at a time when the industry has been fixated upon a lawsuit pending in U.S. District Court in Chicago Case # 09CV3399 filed by Aquila against Oscar Urbina, Jr. and other founding members of yet another group using the name ALACRANES MUSICAL. The suit alleges several claims including copyright and trademark infringement of Alacranes' name and logo, based upon transfer to Aquila as part of a recording contract.

Hodgson states, "The Chicago litigation is much ado about nothing since it is questionable whether either party in Chicago has the prior valid trademark rights to ALACRANES for a musical group in the same genre. The claims of both groups in the Chicago action post date Mr. Rojas' rights in the mark ALACRANES by more than a decade." Hodgson also notes, "Transfer of rights in a group name to a record company by an artist with prior use as part of their recording agreement is completely at odds with well established industry custom and practice."

Ms. Hodgson is no stranger to name disputes in the Spanish Music market which seems to have a recurrent theme. In the late 90's, she successfully sued Fonovisa over rights in the group name BANDA ZETA. H Law also represents songwriter/producer Alfredo Ramirez of LOS CREADOREZ, an original founder and producer of MONTEZ DE DURANGO. Mr. Ramirez was jailed in Mexico in 2005 when he arrived to perform. Unknown to him, a representative of the group had already registered the name in Mexico.

With more than 25 years of experience, H Law Group focuses primarily on entertainment related matters including brand protection in the digital era, global trademark registration and licensing. Hodgson is known for recovering rights to the legendary Kingmen's master Louie Louie. She began her career in the landmark Big O v Goodyear case, which resulted in the largest jury verdict in trademark law history.

Hodgson is a member of Panel of Neutrals at WIPO in Geneva, Switzerland, the ADR Programs Committee of the International Trademark Association and the Los Angeles Copyright Society. She was recently appointed to INTA's Emerging Issues Committee and is Past President of the California Copyright Conference. Hodgson also founded Canto Novo Music, a music publishing company.

Source: H Law

CONTACT: Cheryl Hodgson of H Law Group,+1-310-829-1215

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