5/14/2013

Twisted Sister Coffee Shop? Not If The Band Twisted Sister Has Any thing To Say About It

Twisted Sister's legal threats over coffee shop's URL


A tiny coffee shop In Kansas called Twisted Sisters has been served with legal papers by lawyers for the rock band of a similar name. Oh, yes, they're claiming trademark.

Are they going to take it? Are they going to take it? Are they going to take it anymore?
These are the fundamental questions surrounding a legal threat presented by a lawyer for Twister Sister's founder, John Jay French, to a tiny coffee shop in Mission, Kan.

The coffee shop is called Twister Sisters. It is run by two sisters. They are twisted. Actually, as The Prairie Village Post reports, Sandi Russell and her sister Nancy Hansen were first called "twisted" by their brother in the 1960s.

The 1960s came before 1973, the year when the band Twisted Sister was formed.
But power is interested in power, rather than truth.

As Techdirt reports, the band's main concern seems to involve a URL the coffee shop obtained: Twistersisterscoffeeshop.com. This is currently labeled as being "under construction," which suggests the legal pressure is already succeeding.

Indeed, Russell told the Post that she will probably have no choice but to change the name. Everyone would expect, after all, a snarly rock band to have a coffee shop in Mission, Kan.
It's odd that the band is claiming trademark infringement, as its own trademark (1098366) seems merely to cover "entertainment services rendered by a vocal and instrumental group."

One would be pressed to consider a homey little coffee shop as providing the sort of entertainment services one could expect from a group. Though perhaps there are some after-hours parties of which I am unaware.

Oddly, the Twisted Sisters Coffee Shop's Facebook page seems to show no evidence of this curious dispute.


Read rest of the article here at CNET

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