Gettysburg Area School District would do fine if it just ignored Kierstan Demps.
That’s the reaction of a Penn State legal expert to her claim she has acquired ownership of the district’s “warriors” logo and the district must now pay royalties and comply with her conditions of use.
“The school district has been using the mark longer than she has, so their rights are superior to hers, no matter whether or not she has a registration,” said Jonathan D’Silva, director of the Penn State Law intellectual property clinic. “I don’t think the district has to respond to her at all. They can just ignore her.”
However, it’s too late to ignore Demps, who is running for Gettysburg borough council. An uproar arose last week after the Gettysburg Times reported Demps had notified the district of her claimed ownership and requested a “necessary meeting to discuss the terms and conditions of our licensing fee.”
Demps, who also goes by Kierstan Belle, filed paperwork with the Pennsylvania Bureau of Corporations and Charitable Organizations in August, paying a $50 fee. She claims she was granted ownership as of mid-September.
But D’Silva said the action means little, and would only benefit her if she were the first to use the logo.
He further said he has had clients who had trademarks registered at the federal level, yet lost an infringement claim because it turned out another party had used it first.
“In general, under trademark law, the first person in time and the first person in space has superior rights over anyone who comes afterward,” he said.
The logo consists of the letter “G” surrounded by an arrowhead and adorns items such as football helmets, banners, clothing and district social media accounts. According to the Philadelphia Inquirer, it was created in 2013 by a district employee.
The district sent Demps a cease and desist order last week. District spokeswoman Becci Leathery on Wednesday said the district won’t share legal correspondence between the district and Demps. “The district is currently in communication with our legal counsel to determine appropriate steps; beyond this, I cannot comment further at this time,” she wrote in an email.
Meanwhile, Demps, a 2010 graduate of the district, has faced backlash. On a Facebook page devoted to Gettysburg news, many commentators have taken her to task, using terms including “thief” and “extortion.”
Demps has expressed regret over the way the situation has played out, telling the Gettysburg Times her intent is to address unspecified problems in the district and leverage a higher set of values associated with “the Warrior Way.”
Demps on Tuesday declined an interview request from PennLive. In an updated message on the Gettysburg Crimes Facebook page, she wrote “Please give me the grace to clarify this action as I address Warrior Nation in due time.”
Demps notified a company that sells clothing bearing the logo that it must pay royalties, according to the Gettysburg Times.
Her state application was made under the name of her business, Keirstan Kierstan’s Kids LLC.
According to news reports, she said her goal was not to personally profit from logo ownership, but to use royalty money to fund things that will benefit the community, such as a daycare center.
D’Silva, who read news accounts and also reviewed her state filing, said her actions appear to reflect someone who has little understanding of the pertinent laws.
“I have heard of people who don’t understand trademarks trying to do things like this,” he says.
He also said that, even if the district had neglected to take legal steps used to register and protect logos, it wouldn’t leave them vulnerable to someone wresting away ownership. The fact that the district has long used the logo, while Demps never has, weighs heavily in favor of the district, according to D’Silva.
“It’s more than just filing a piece of paper and saying that you have it. You actually have to take positive steps to properly use your intellectual property in the first place. You can’t just go out there and take somebody else’s stuff and say it’s yours,” he said. “This just goes against everything intellectual property law is set up to do.”
READ MORE FROM PENNLIVE:
Central Pa. cop sued over use of stun gun on DUI suspect: video