Trademark and licensing is sticking point for Strut

Last night, the King Mango group met in the back room at The Grove Spot. In attendance were those elected to the new board last week: Jane Decker, George Ibars, Joel Kreiger, Michael Lucas, Sue McConnell and Len Scinto, Nathan Kurland was absent.

The only "legal" board members of King Mango Strut, Inc., Glenn Terry and Antoinette Baldwin also attended. The eight sat around a long table and tried to hash out the King Mango Strut's ongoing problems. For most of the night, Glenn was bombarded with questions as if in a court of law. It didn't help that one or two present were lawyers. But so is Glenn.

It comes down to this: Glenn Terry says he owns the Strut and the others want him to share it. It's been Glenn's baby for the past 28 years and many in attendance only got involved 10 years ago or less. Glenn says he created the concept, the name and the logo. The others have worked on the Strut all these past years out of love. The solution to this problem could have been solved 28 years ago if Glenn had taken it more seriously and trademarked it and staked his claim then. Should he be penalized for procrastination?

Glenn says he trademarked the King Mango Strut after all these years to protect the parade. Those who worked on it all these years feel that Glenn has ulterior motives for trademarking the event. They feel he wants to make money on the Strut name, while they all work for free. So far, no one has made a penny and no one has come up with any plans to capitalize on the name. Is it worth anything anyway?

Glenn feels that since he created the Strut, he should maintain it. He would like Antoinette to sign a licensing agreement, which would allow her and all the others to do what they want with it, as long as it is Glenn's trademarked property. One major issue is that Antoinette did most of the work for the past 10 years. She was responsible for the logistics, the permits and arranging funding among many other things. The sleepy little parade has grown and so have all the City regulations which make it a chore to put on each year.

Antoinette says she does not want the responsibility of signing anyone's rights away and would like the new board members to make the decision about signing a licensing agreement. Glenn and Antoinette have agreed to meet next Monday to talk about making the new board legal. Glenn is still hesitant and may not agree to the new board. He feels the board is stacked in Antoinette's favor and he feels she will control the board. He wants a new board, a younger group, those without history to the Strut.

Glenn did not accept the board formed last year and it looks like he might not approve of the board this year. The way to get him to approve the board is to have them agree to sign a licensing agreement, which Glenn says he'll change any way they like to accommodate them, but he will retain the trademark and ownership.

Glenn does not want to control the parade, just the trademark. And therein lies the sticking point.

Tomorrow: Why the board feels that Glenn is wrong.