The attorney for a Northern California cycling club that sued a Florida wheel maker and the domestic elite team it sponsored over naming rights told Cyclingnews Wednesday that the club had no intention of harming the company or the team, but rather was trying to protect the rights to a name it has used since the 1990s.
The Alto Velo cycling club of San Jose filed suit against Alto Velo wheel company earlier this year, claiming the company's name infringed on the trademark the club had established after more than two decades of use. The wheel company eventually settled the lawsuit, agreeing to change its name to Alto Cycling, but co-owner Bobby Sweeting said the expense of defending itself against the lawsuit forced the company to scrap the team.
Jeffrey Fillerup, the California cycling club's attorney, told Cyclingnews that the wheel company could have avoided the issue entirely simply by acquiescing to the club's initial requests to honor the usage-based trademark and changing the company's name.
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“The wheel company just started to use the Alto Velo name last year,” Fillerup wrote in an email to Cyclingnews. “The wheel company never asked for permission to use the Alto Velo name. They knew about the Alto Velo cycling club before they adopted the Alto Velo name, but they did nothing to obtain permission to use the name.
“When I asked the wheel company to stop using the name last year, they refused,” Fillerup continued. “They told me that they would never change the name. They told me that Alto Velo was their name. Of course, they had no basis for claiming the right to use the Alto Velo name.”
Fuillerup said the club was put in the position of abandoning its Alto Velo trademark and letting the wheel company “steal it,” or taking action to stop the wheel company.
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