In February, Sturgis Motorcycle Rally, Inc. acquired trademarks for the word Sturgis and Black Hills.   Now court documents show the company has filed suit against Rushmore Photo & Gift for using the word Sturgis on t-shirts and other merchandise.  Concerned Citizens for Sturgis says SMRI has no right to trademark Sturgis in the first place. 

Brian Niemann of Rushmore Photo & Gifts, Inc. says, "It's basically affected anything we sell in the Sturgis area with Sturgis on it.   It's probably taken about 50 percent of overall sales and what's that done more than just to our business is tax revenue.   It hasn't been replaced by anyone else, because most have moved out of the market and said 'this year, we're out.'" 

Basically the suit states SMRI has exclusive rights to use the name Sturgis and controls who can use it, but Rushmore Photo & Gift has filed a countersuit, stating the name Sturgis should be free domain.   The attorney for the concerned citizens group says under federal trademark laws, typically geographic locations, such as town names, cannot be trademarked.  

Repeated attempts to contact the chairman of SMRI were not successful.

Zach Nugent