Settlement Reached In “Sturgis Rally Week” Infringement Case

Sturgis Motorcycle Rally, Inc. (“SMRi”) has reached a settlement in its trademark infringement litigation against Kent Mortimer and his companies, which arose out of misuse of SMRi’s STURGIS trademarks. “After months of negotiations, two mediations, and over two years of litigation in federal court, we are pleased to settle this case,” Dean Kinney, chairperson of SMRi, said. “We are looking forward to focusing more of SMRi’s efforts and resources on growing the Rally and bettering the Sturgis community.”

SMRi filed its suit against Kent Mortimer and his company, Mortimer Enterprises, in 2014 after discovering Mortimer, through his former business Renegade Classics, was selling, to retail stores in Georgia and elsewhere, unauthorized apparel bearing the term “Sturgis Rally Week,” which infringes SMRi’s rights in its Sturgis Bike Week®, Sturgis® Motorcycle Rally™ and Sturgis® trademarks.

The settlement agreement provides that Mortimer and his companies will pay $325,000 to SMRi and that they no longer will manufacture, sell, distribute or advertise goods or services using any of SMRi’s trademarks. Mortimer, previously a vocal opponent of SMRi and its trademark rights, and his companies also agreed: ·  To acknowledge the validity of SMRi’s STURGIS trademarks · To destroy his remaining inventory of infringing goods · Not to participate in the protest organization Concerned Citizens for Sturgis, Inc.; · Not to disparage SMRi or its officers or directors.

12 Responses to “Settlement Reached In “Sturgis Rally Week” Infringement Case”


  1. 1 Dante Jan 18th, 2017 at 1:24 pm

    SMRi = stealing from Sturgis and the surrounding communities for years… I won’t by anything with their trademark on it and I am not the only one.

  2. 2 dan m Jan 18th, 2017 at 5:10 pm

    like pigs at a trough they have to have it all, It’s not what Pappy H would have wanted or envisioned! SMRI= bad pizza

  3. 3 Brett Ashley Jan 18th, 2017 at 6:00 pm

    Shame on SMRI. Winner in a lawsuit. Loser with all bikers. Congrats!

  4. 4 bigitch Jan 18th, 2017 at 10:18 pm

    i have a pig on my farm who’s name is Sturgis Rally”, wonder if they want to sue me too.

  5. 5 iPeg Jan 19th, 2017 at 10:15 am

    Thanks Trump

  6. 6 azjeff Jan 19th, 2017 at 11:09 am

    iPeg- say whattt? What does Pres. Elect Trump have to do with 2+ years of stupid litigation?

  7. 7 Doc Robinson Jan 19th, 2017 at 5:51 pm

    People such as iPig – oops I mean iPeg – demonstrate their total intellectual bankruptcy by bringing up the President Elects name in a forum that is about the motorcycle industry and should remain free of politics, especially stupid comments from the weeping, whining “we wuz robbed” snowflakes. Get over it. Donald J Trump won, crooked Hillary lost. Now let’s stick to motorcycle matters.

  8. 8 Patrick Jan 19th, 2017 at 6:19 pm

    Doc Robinson. You just displayed your political preference by qualifying Clinton of crooked. First Trump is more crooked that Clinton. You will find out soon. Second, 3 million more Americans have voted for her. Third, Trump has the lowest approval of all presidents taking office. 45% against 82% for Obama when he took office. Obama ieaves office with 61% approval, the highest of all presidents. I will stop speaking politics when you will do the same.

  9. 9 gene slater Jan 20th, 2017 at 10:07 am

    actually Patrick, I believer your are in error here. Depending upon your source of info it might be Clinton and Eisenhower how hold this distinction

    JOB APPROVAL RATING
    YEAR PRESIDENT 1 MONTH BEFORE ELECTION FINAL
    2000 Bill Clinton 57% 66%
    1960 Dwight Eisenhower 58 60
    2016 Barack Obama 53* —
    1988 Ronald Reagan 51 63
    1976 Gerald Ford 50 53
    1968 Lyndon Johnson 43 49
    1992 George H.W. Bush 34 49
    1980 Jimmy Carter 34 34
    1952 Harry Truman 32 32
    2008 George W. Bush 25 29
    Job approval ratings for presidents since World War II

  10. 10 Geno Jan 20th, 2017 at 10:18 am

    I confirm. As of this week, final. Obama approval is 61%

  11. 11 David Noe Jan 20th, 2017 at 9:45 pm

    Wait !! I thought the JOKE section was listed above???
    An extra 330 druggies released from prison this week!
    More Islamic killers released from Gitmo this week!
    Bradley Manning sentence commuted !
    And there was a lot more!
    None of this is on my Approval List …I would say it is a bit lower than stated and we still haven’t said anything about Obama care….if you are insured you surely don’t have as much money as you did have unless you have reached into someone else’s pocket to get you covered!
    So I guess your saying That has your approval !
    Only Plus is that there were a couple of hundred ISIS killers bombed into Hell today and Obama took his last official helicopter ride over D.C.

    SSDD;David

  12. 12 hacksaws garage Jan 24th, 2017 at 12:03 pm

    Sturgis belongs to the people. not some company.
    one cant trademark a way of life. i would boycott that company myself.

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Cyril Huze