Revival Electric accuses Origin Effects of trying to “strip” it of its name in trademark battle
Revival Electric founder Travis Harris has accused Origin Effects of attempting to “strip” his company of its name through legal action after a trademark for the latter’s RevivalDRIVE pedal was allegedly denied by the United States Patent And Trademark Office (USPTO).
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The purported legal battle came to light when Revival Electric – based in San Francisco – issued a statement about the Oxfordshire, UK company on Instagram yesterday (16 June).
“About 18 months ago, Origin Effects blindsided me with legal action after they found out their RevivalDRIVE pedal was denied for a trademark,” he wrote in the post.
“With a team of lawyers, they have filed false allegations to get the trademark office to strip me of this name [Revival Electric],” he further claimed. “Even doubling down during the peak of the pandemic with more malicious and aggressive claims.”
“In my opinion this is all an attempt to help shield them from potential lawsuits since they are illegally using Revival, which infringes on my registered [trade mark].”
“This week they are forcing me to give a 7 hour deposition (aka interrogation by their attorneys) in their latest attempt to drum up any evidence,” Harris claimed. “They are using the law to inflict as much undue burden as possible in order to exhaust me and escape any consequences for their illegal actions.”
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Origin Effects has yet to respond publicly to Harris’ allegations. Guitar.com has reached out to both Origin Effects and Revival Electric for comment.
A legal document, filed on 20 November 2019 and obtained by Guitar.com from the USPTO website/database, confirmed that Origin Effects did petition for Revival Electric’s mark to be cancelled.
According to the legal document, Origin initially attempted to register the “REVIVALDRIVE” mark on 10 July 2018, but this was “refused” by the USPTO “based on the alleged likelihood of confusion” with Revival Electric’s mark, which was filed and registered in 2010.
On 24 May 2019, Origin Effects “successfully argued in response that there was no likelihood of confusion between the marks” – but a further “non-final Office Action” issued on 28 June 2019 reinstated the refusal.
In November 2019, Origin Effects applied to have Revival Electric’s mark cancelled, claiming that Revival Electric had “abandoned” the mark which was “discontinued with intent not to resume use”, which Harris denied.
Origin Effects conducted investigations in October 2019 that it claimed “confirmed that no ‘electronic effects pedals’ or ‘guitar amplifiers’ were available for sale” on the Revival Electric’s website and that the brand’s sales between 2009 and 2020, two months after Origin Effects filed its petition to cancel Revival Electric’s mark, were “sporadic and very limited” – claims that Origin Effects cited in its belief that Revival Electric had “abandoned” its mark.
The most recent legal document in the case, dated 17 May 2021, lays out a runway for the proceedings that will take it into 2022. The “Discovery Phase” is set to close on 7 July 2021.
The RevivalDRIVE, released in 2018, was the first overdrive pedal produced by Origin Effects and is currently on sale and priced at £408. A compact version of the pedal was released in 2019 for £315.
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Source: www.guitar-bass.net
