An Open Letter to Magicians in the San Francisco Area
Posted: February 14th, 2007, 4:29 pm
I am Todd Robbins. Many of you know me as a magician, sideshow performer and one of the producers of New York's Monday Night Magic.
One of the other duties I have is being the Executive Director of Coney Island USA. We are the organization that
has been working to keep Coney Island, NY alive for the last 27 years.
One of the ways we have been doing this is with performance series
like Sideshows by the Seashore and our Burlesque at the Beach.
The reason I am posting this message is that I need your help in resolving a matter.
25 years ago, the founder of our organization, Dick Zigun, created
and produced the original Mermaid Parade. There has been a Mermaid
Parade in Coney Island every year since then. The original Mermaid
Parade was conceived as an event to bring together the community out
here with a day of joy, love and laughter. It has become an
important signature event of our organization. We have also
trademarked "Mermaid Parade".
Unlike parades created as a public celebration of a national,
religious or ethnic holiday, the Mermaid Parade was created as a
unique event. Unlike a "Thanksgiving Day Parade", the name "Mermaid
Parade" is not in the public domain.
Three years ago, magician Stephen Baker, also known as Mystic Marlow, started
up a parade with a mermaid theme in San Francisco. When it was
pointed out to him the original Mermaid Parade had been in existence
for more than two decades, he started making statements along the
lines of, "What was started in Coney Island is now being brought to
San Francisco."
This distresses us greatly. The use of the Mermaid Parade name and
these statements imply a connection between the two parades that does
not exist. Stephen never ask us for permission to use our name. I
don't feel that Stephen has done this out of malice, but the mistake
was made and it continues.
Having two Mermaid Parades is confusing to the public. It also puts
us in an awkward situation because we have no involvement in the San
Francisco parade and what is done in that parade will reflect back
upon our organization. And we have no desire to be involved in
running the San Francisco parade. We have more than enough to do
with keeping our organization going in Coney Island.
Let me put forth right now that we do not want to stop the parade
from happening. A parade is a wonderful thing and great things can
come out of it. The only thing at issue is the name.
Calling the parade the San Francisco Mermaid Parade is the problem.
The issue is the use of term "Mermaid Parade". It is a protected
trademark and using it in a different locale does not change that.
"Mermaids on Parade" or even Mermayd Parade would also violate that
trademark since it is close enough to the name "Mermaid Parade" for
the origin to be confusing. This is the advice from our lawyers.
The reason I know this is because I am working on keeping the peace
here in our organization, while our founder wants to unleash our
lawyers. Since it infringes on a trademark, the lawyers are champing
at the bit to take this all to court. I have asked that we hold back
for awhile on this as I am trying to resolve this in a civilized
fashion and avoid heavy handed solutions for this situation.
I have written to Stephen asking that he change the name. I have
suggested that we would have no problem with:
"Inspired by the Coney Island Mermaid Parade, Mystic Marlow presents
the San Francisco Sea Nymph Parade"
or the Sea Siren Parade, or the Neptune Parade, or the Nautilus
Parade, or the Poseidon Parade, or the Under Sea Parade or anything
else that allows him to keep the nautical theme.
We have even offered to help promote his parade if there is a name
change.
Stephen still insists on using the name Mermaid Parade.
So I am reaching out to the San Francisco magic community and
asking anyone that knows Stephen/Marlow to speak to him about
changing the name of his parade.
I would think that he would want to change the name. While it is
important for us to maintain the integrity of our event, I would also
imagine that as his event grows it will be important for it to
develop it's own identity and not be confused with ours.
All of this could be cleared up with a simple action. And once
again, if that action of changing the name of the parade was made,
positive things would come of it.
You should know that the kind of situation we are in, with two events
having the same name, happens often. Organizations find themselves
having to change the name of things all the time because of prior
usage. It's not a big deal.
So, if there is anyone out there that can help us by speaking to Stephen/Marlow and urge him to change the name of his parade, please do so. If you wish to contact me with any questions please email me at
coneyislandtodd@....
Thanks,
Todd Robbins
Executive Director, Coney Island USA
www.coneyisland.com
One of the other duties I have is being the Executive Director of Coney Island USA. We are the organization that
has been working to keep Coney Island, NY alive for the last 27 years.
One of the ways we have been doing this is with performance series
like Sideshows by the Seashore and our Burlesque at the Beach.
The reason I am posting this message is that I need your help in resolving a matter.
25 years ago, the founder of our organization, Dick Zigun, created
and produced the original Mermaid Parade. There has been a Mermaid
Parade in Coney Island every year since then. The original Mermaid
Parade was conceived as an event to bring together the community out
here with a day of joy, love and laughter. It has become an
important signature event of our organization. We have also
trademarked "Mermaid Parade".
Unlike parades created as a public celebration of a national,
religious or ethnic holiday, the Mermaid Parade was created as a
unique event. Unlike a "Thanksgiving Day Parade", the name "Mermaid
Parade" is not in the public domain.
Three years ago, magician Stephen Baker, also known as Mystic Marlow, started
up a parade with a mermaid theme in San Francisco. When it was
pointed out to him the original Mermaid Parade had been in existence
for more than two decades, he started making statements along the
lines of, "What was started in Coney Island is now being brought to
San Francisco."
This distresses us greatly. The use of the Mermaid Parade name and
these statements imply a connection between the two parades that does
not exist. Stephen never ask us for permission to use our name. I
don't feel that Stephen has done this out of malice, but the mistake
was made and it continues.
Having two Mermaid Parades is confusing to the public. It also puts
us in an awkward situation because we have no involvement in the San
Francisco parade and what is done in that parade will reflect back
upon our organization. And we have no desire to be involved in
running the San Francisco parade. We have more than enough to do
with keeping our organization going in Coney Island.
Let me put forth right now that we do not want to stop the parade
from happening. A parade is a wonderful thing and great things can
come out of it. The only thing at issue is the name.
Calling the parade the San Francisco Mermaid Parade is the problem.
The issue is the use of term "Mermaid Parade". It is a protected
trademark and using it in a different locale does not change that.
"Mermaids on Parade" or even Mermayd Parade would also violate that
trademark since it is close enough to the name "Mermaid Parade" for
the origin to be confusing. This is the advice from our lawyers.
The reason I know this is because I am working on keeping the peace
here in our organization, while our founder wants to unleash our
lawyers. Since it infringes on a trademark, the lawyers are champing
at the bit to take this all to court. I have asked that we hold back
for awhile on this as I am trying to resolve this in a civilized
fashion and avoid heavy handed solutions for this situation.
I have written to Stephen asking that he change the name. I have
suggested that we would have no problem with:
"Inspired by the Coney Island Mermaid Parade, Mystic Marlow presents
the San Francisco Sea Nymph Parade"
or the Sea Siren Parade, or the Neptune Parade, or the Nautilus
Parade, or the Poseidon Parade, or the Under Sea Parade or anything
else that allows him to keep the nautical theme.
We have even offered to help promote his parade if there is a name
change.
Stephen still insists on using the name Mermaid Parade.
So I am reaching out to the San Francisco magic community and
asking anyone that knows Stephen/Marlow to speak to him about
changing the name of his parade.
I would think that he would want to change the name. While it is
important for us to maintain the integrity of our event, I would also
imagine that as his event grows it will be important for it to
develop it's own identity and not be confused with ours.
All of this could be cleared up with a simple action. And once
again, if that action of changing the name of the parade was made,
positive things would come of it.
You should know that the kind of situation we are in, with two events
having the same name, happens often. Organizations find themselves
having to change the name of things all the time because of prior
usage. It's not a big deal.
So, if there is anyone out there that can help us by speaking to Stephen/Marlow and urge him to change the name of his parade, please do so. If you wish to contact me with any questions please email me at
coneyislandtodd@....
Thanks,
Todd Robbins
Executive Director, Coney Island USA
www.coneyisland.com