Suit was officially filed today in U.S. District Court of Montana (CV 15-0021-DLC-JCL) against Angela Townsend (@AngelaJTownsend), The Forlorned LLC (@TheForlorned), Andrew Wies, Good Outlaw Studios LLC, and Clean Teen Publishing, Inc. for trademark infringement of the name and title, “The Forlorned”. I regret having to take this action, but the defendants have left me no choice. I made it clear that I was willing to negotiate the use of my mark, but the defendants instead resorted to fraud, thuggery, and other criminal misconduct in retaliation against me for making the initial demand to cease and desist use of my mark.
Let me say again: no defendant in this issue made a single effort to discuss resolution of this case, but instead acted outside the law to attempt to intimidate me into withdrawing my trademark claim. These are wholly disreputable individuals, and I am left with no other legal alternative but to file this suit.
For anyone interested in the actual details of the case, I am attaching the complaint to the end of this post.
I welcome any comments on this matter.
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Ron Glick
40 1st Avenue West #2
Kalispell, MT 59901
(406)257-0479 / (406)871-3893 (cell)
ron_glick@yahoo.com
IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
IN AND FOR THE DISTRICT OF MONTANA
MISSOULA DIVISION
Cause No. CV 15-0021-DLC-JCL
Plaintiff,
v.
Angela J Townsend, Andrew Wies,
The Forlorned LLC,
Good Outlaw Studios,
Clean Teen Publishing, Inc.,
and Does One through Twenty,
Defendants.
COMPLAINT
STATEMENT
Plaintiff is the creator and the owner of the trademark name and title “The Forlorned”, created in or around July, 2013, and made the first commercial use of the mark representative as his own on or about August 6, 2013. Plaintiff provided voluntary consent to Defendant Angela J Townsend to use the mark as a title to replace that of her existing novel, “Fears of a Fisherman”. Plaintiff’s consent was granted to said Defendant under good faith acknowledgment of credit being provided to Plaintiff’s creation of the title in any form in which it was used. In late 2014, Plaintiff was informed by Defendant Townsend that she intended to use Plaintiff’s mark for a movie adaptation of her novel, and that she had created an LLC utilizing Plaintiff’s trademarked property. However, in spite of commitment to accredit Plaintiff as the owner of the mark, Defendants have collectively acted to utilize the mark as their own and deprive Plaintiff of credit for its creation and ownership.
As consequence of Defendants’ collective bad faith, Plaintiff issued a trademark cease and desist notice against Defendants Townsend and The Forlorned, LLC on or about February 18, 2015, and provided copies of said notice to all other Defendants thereafter. In spite of said notice, Defendants have refused to cease usage of Plaintiff’s mark. Further, since receiving Plaintiff’s cease and desist notice, Defendant Townsend has committed multiple acts of malice and harm against Plaintiff and his reputation in retaliation for Plaintiff’s proposed legal action against her in an effort to bar Plaintiff from bringing complaint in this Court.
Based upon the clear and deliberate fraud perpetrated and the willful and deliberate harm inflicted upon him and his character by Defendants, Plaintiff is left with no alternative but to bring complaint against Defendants in this cause.
JURISDICTION
This action is brought pursuant to 15 USC § 1125, in that any party who knowingly uses the recognized mark of another party is subject to liability for use of said mark and 15 USCS § 1116, et seq., in that this Court is empowered to provide relief to the rightful trademark owner.
PARTIES
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Plaintiff Ron Glick is and was at all times relevant a citizen of the United States and resident of the City of Kalispell, County of Flathead, State of Montana, and is a self published author who utilizes his name “Ron Glick” for brand recognition of his work.
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Defendant Angela J Townsend, at all times referred to herein, is and was at all times relevant herein a resident of the City of Kalispell, County of Flathead, State of Montana, and conducts business through the law offices of McGarvey|Anderson, PLLC located at 745 South Main Street in Kalispell, Montana 59901, and is sued in her personal and professional capacities.
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Defendant Andrew Wies, at all times referred to herein, is and was at all times relevant herein believed to be a resident of the City of Kalispell, County of Flathead, State of Montana, and conducts business through the law offices of McGarvey|Anderson, PLLC located at 745 South Main Street in Kalispell, Montana 59901, and is sued in his professional capacities.
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Defendant The Forlorned, LLC, at all times referred to herein, was a legally formed limited liability company licensed in the State of Montana, and conducts business through the law offices of McGarvey|Anderson, PLLC located at 745 South Main Street in Kalispell, Montana 59901, and is sued in its professional capacities.
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Defendant Good Outlaw Studios, LLC, at all times referred to herein, was a legally formed limited liability company licensed in the State of Montana, and conducts business through the law offices of McGarvey|Anderson, PLLC located at 745 South Main Street in Kalispell, Montana 59901, and is sued in its professional capacities.
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Defendant Clean Teen Publishing Inc., at all times referred to herein, was a legally formed corporattion licensed in the State of Texas, located at 5200 Reed Drive, The Colony, Texas 75056, and is sued in its professional capacity.
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The true names and capacities of Does One through Twenty are presently unknown to Plaintiff. Plaintiff is informed and believes, and based upon such belief alleges, that each of said Doe Defendants is responsible for the damages suffered by Plaintiff. Leave of the Court will be sought to amend this complaint to include the true names and capacities of said Doe Defendants as soon as such information becomes known to Defendant.
BACKGROUND
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Defendant Angela Townsend has been informed since in or around 2011 that Plaintiff had been convicted of a sexual offense in 2005, and in spite of such knowledge said Defendant has frequently called upon Plaintiff for assistance in various book and movie projects through the years.
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Further, all members of Defendant The Forlorned, LLC were personally informed by Plaintiff of his sex offender status, and none ever raised objection to using and relying upon Plaintiff’s expertise and assistance at any point prior to February 13, 2015.
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In or around July, 2013, Defendant Townsend approached Plaintiff for assistance in a new project to rewrite and re-brand a former novel of said Defendant’s, “Fears of a Fisherman”, which said Defendant had published originally in 2008/2009 through Wild Child Publishing out of Culver, California (ISBN# 978-1-935013-91-4), with which Plaintiff agreed to assist.
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Defendant Townsend informed Plaintiff that she wished to rename the revised novel, and requested Plaintiff to create a new title for the book once it was rewritten, with said Defendant specifically stating to Plaintiff that the novel in its current form was poor work and she could not license nor sell it in its current form.
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Plaintiff did not fully comprehend Defendant Townsend’s statement at the time but has since come to understand its meaning, that said Defendant had been attempting to option all of her books for movie productions and had had “Fears of a Fisherman” rejected, prompting her interest in revising it with a new title.
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Plaintiff created the title “The Forlorned” (hereafter “the Mark”) in or around the end of July, 2013, and granted Defendant Townsend consent to use his intellectual creation upon accreditation for his creation and claim to the name and title in any use by said Defendant, to which said Defendant readily agreed.
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Defendant Townsend made specific request of Plaintiff to not “file anything on the name”, since it might interfere with her ability to sell the title to a publisher, which was a valid concern since publishers typically search for name availability before publishing a unique title, and therefore Plaintiff accepted said Defendant’s commitment to provide credit to him on good faith alone.
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Defendant Townsend however only possessed a proof copy of her original novel in an uneditable PDF file reportedly provided to her by her old publisher, and therefore could not edit its content.
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Defendant Townsend requested Plaintiff’s assistance in restoring said proof copy to an editable format, which Plaintiff succeeded with on or about August 5, 2013.
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With a new name and original content restored, Defendant Townsend purchased cover art for her new book on or about August 6, 2013.
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Plaintiff thereafter made the first commercial use of the Mark and his creation thereof on August 6, 2013, along with a posted copy of Defendant Townsend’s cover art on Plaintiff’s blog website (https://godslayercycle.wordpress.com/2013/08/).
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Plaintiff continued to assist Defendant Townsend with editing, fact checking and historical research on her original novel, “Fears of a Fisherman” through early 2014, though said Defendant did not actually make an effort to publish the revised novel at that time.
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Instead, unbeknownst to Plaintiff, Defendant Townsend solicited the concept re-branded with the Mark for movie production and had the project accepted, primarily – as later stated by Defendant Wies in Plaintiff’s presence – because the Mark represented a compelling title.
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In mid 2014, Defendant Townsend finally acknowledged to Plaintiff that she had secured a “movie deal” for her story using the Mark with Defendants Wies and Good Outlaw Productions, LLC, and that she had created an LLC utilizing the Mark, aka, Defendant The Forlorned, LLC.
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Defendant Townsend again assured Plaintiff that accreditation for the Mark and Plaintiff’s contributions would be provided in the Movie’s credits – which initially appeared in bare form (name and title of “Consultant” only) on the movie website, with said Defendant’s committing to having the entry be properly updated once internal conflicts over website maintenance were resolved.
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In or around August, 2014, Defendant Townsend once again called upon Plaintiff to assist in editing and providing research for her story’s script and novel, as well as calling upon Plaintiff to utilize his expertise in web promotions.
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Plaintiff diligently provided extensive work upon Defendant Townsend’s movie project, committing countless hours of assistance for over six months, with repeated assurances by said Defendant of accreditation and verbally acknowledging Plaintiff’s creation of the Mark on multiple occasions to others in Plaintiff’s presence, providing Plaintiff a perceived sense of security in said Defendant’s continued good faith.
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Based upon Plaintiff’s assistance in editing Defendant Townsend’s novel, said Defendant secured a publication contract utilizing the Mark with Defendant Clean Teen Publishing Inc., with the novelization scheduled for release in or around July, 2015.
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As the movie neared the end of its production and being aware it would soon be solicited for sale, Plaintiff discovered on February 7, 2015, that his name and credit had been completely removed from the movie website, and when Plaintiff confronted Defendant Townsend about this fact, said Defendant alleged that the movie website was in the process of being updated and that not everyone had yet been put back on the site yet, offering further assurance that Plaintiff’s name would be returned shortly.
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On or about February 13, 2015, Defendant Townsend changed her representation to Plaintiff, and attempted to divert blame onto other members of Defendant The Forlorned, LLC, for voting to remove Plaintiff’s name from the movie and to remove all credit to Plaintiff’s ownership of the Mark or his contributions to the movie because of Plaintiff’s sex offender status.
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Plaintiff objected to this removal, and Defendant Townsend assured Plaintiff that she would have Defendant The Forlorned, LLC’s president, Dale McGarvey, contact Plaintiff to discuss the issue, which never occurred.
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Instead, Plaintiff received an email on February 16, 2015, from Patricia Easton, identified as Executive Assistant on the movie website, attempting to justify Plaintiff’s removal from the movie credits, again basing reasoning upon Plaintiff’s sex offender status.
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On said date, Plaintiff posted a public notification of his objection to the removal and his claim to the mark on Twitter.
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On February 18, 2015, Defendant Townsend made an inflammatory phone call to Plaintiff, making profane threats and demands against Plaintiff to remove his objection posted on Twitter, and made an erroneous allegation that she had “owned The Forlorned since 2003”.
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Based upon the clear declared intention of Defendant Townsend to claim the Mark as her own, Plaintiff issued a trademark cease and desist notice against said Defendant and Defendant The Forlorned, LLC on February 18, 2015.
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In response to Plaintiff’s cease and desist notice, said Defendants filed a trademark claim to “The Forlorned” with the Montana Secretary of State, swearing under oath that no other person had a right to the Mark, which was clearly a perjured attestment as they filed the trademark claim in specific response to the receipt of Plaintiff’s cease and desist counter claim.
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Plaintiff thereafter sent copies of the trademark cease and desist by email to all other Defendants on or about February 19, 2015.
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Further, since receiving Plaintiff’s cease and desist, Defendant Townsend has committed multiple acts of malice and harm against Plaintiff and his reputation in retaliation for Plaintiff’s proposed legal action against her, including but not limited to multiple instances of defamation of character, having Facebook remove a fanpage dedicated to him (hosted by a third party, Jean Fox), made false reports to law enforcement, and attempted to provoke revocation of Plaintiff’s probation.
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Still further, said Defendant has made specific threat to make a false report to the Social Security Administration that Plaintiff was paid between five to ten thousand dollars ($5,000.00 to $10,000.00) for his work on the Movie in order to have his Supplemental Security Income suspended.
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Based upon the clear and deliberate fraud perpetrated by the Defendants, coupled with their refusal to comply with Plaintiff’s trademark cease and desist notice and the willful and deliberate harm inflicted upon Plaintiff and his character, Plaintiff is left with no alternative but to bring complaint against the Defendants in this cause.
GENERAL FACTUAL ALLEGATIONS
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Plaintiff is the clear owner of the trademark for the name and title “The Forlorned”, having both created the Mark itself and used it first in commerce.
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Defendant Townsend had a limited, conditional consent granted by Plaintiff to use the Mark which was founded upon the good faith agreement of providing credit to Plaintiff as the Mark’s creator and owner.
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Defendants Townsend and The Forlorned, LLC, have violated the good faith agreement with Plaintiff, and Plaintiff is entitled to have all parties utilizing his mark to cease and desist for such violation.
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Plaintiff served a clear and legal trademark cease and desist notice upon all Defendants, and none have complied with said notice.
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Defendants have acted in bad faith and under effort to defraud the State of Montana by filing a perjured trademark claim with the Montana Secretary of State, as they made false oath that noone else had a right to the Mark.
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Defendants activities are unlawful and constitute intentional trademark infringement and false designation of origin.
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Defendant Townsend has further acted in bad faith by maligning Plaintiff’s reputation and committing acts of malice against Plaintiff in retaliation for Plaintiff’s demand that Defendants cease and desist utilizing the Mark.
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Defendant Townsend has made clear declaration to commit further acts of malice against Plaintiff in retaliation for Plaintiff’s demand that Defendants cease and desist utilizing the Mark.
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Since Plaintiff is the rightful owner of the Mark and all Defendants are utilizing the Mark without his consent.
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Plaintiff is entitled under law to preliminary and permanent injunctive relief, money damages, Defendants’ profits (upon not only the offending trademark infringement, but also upon any other material reliant or related to such infringement – which would include any and all characters, storylines, etc. – past, present or future – which are connected to the reliance upon my mark), provisions for the destruction or confiscation of infringing products and promotional materials, and where intentional infringing is shown, attorney’s fees and treble money damages.
FIRST CAUSE OF ACTION
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Plaintiff realleges and incorporates by reference all of the preceding above as though set forth herein in full.
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This cause of action is brought pursuant to the previously cited jurisdictions set forth heretofore.
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The above described acts and omissions of Defendants, and each of them, constitute collaboration in a common goal, and though each Defendant may have been motivated by separate reasons to participate and may not have been aware of either all the participants or actions thereof, they were all knowledged that their actions were in collusion with others for the same purpose, constituting a chain conspiracy, violating Plaintiff’s rights under law.
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As a direct and proximate result of acts and omissions alleged above, Plaintiff has suffered and is entitled to damages.
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In doing the acts and making the omissions alleged herein, Defendants acted maliciously and with wanton disregard for the rights, needs and feelings of Plaintiff and by reason thereof, Plaintiff requests punitive damages in the amount of one hundred thousand dollars ($100,000) per Defendant.
SECOND CAUSE OF ACTION
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Plaintiff realleges and incorporates by reference all of the preceding above as though set forth herein in full.
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This cause of action is brought pursuant to the previously cited jurisdictions set forth heretofore.
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The above described acts and omissions of Defendants, and each of them, constitute intentional trademark infringement, demonstrating an clear intent and purpose to willfully and deliberately utilize a trademark to which they do not have consent to use and violating the the limited, conditional consent to use said trademark when they did have consent to use such, violating Plaintiff’s rights under law.
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As a direct and proximate result of acts and omissions alleged above, Plaintiff has suffered and is entitled to damages.
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In doing the acts and making the omissions alleged herein, Defendants acted maliciously and with wanton disregard for the rights, needs and feelings of Plaintiff and by reason thereof, Plaintiff requests the award to Plaintiff of all profits, proceeds, or moneys received by Defendants in any form solicited from and through the use of the Mark, and from any other material reliant or related to such infringements which are connected to the reliance upon the Mark.
THIRD CAUSE OF ACTION
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Plaintiff realleges and incorporates by reference all of the preceding above as though set forth herein in full.
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This cause of action is brought pursuant to the previously cited jurisdictions set forth heretofore.
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The above described acts and omissions of Defendants, and each of them, under color of state law, constitute false designation of origin, violating Plaintiff’s rights under law.
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As a direct and proximate result of acts and omissions alleged above, Plaintiff has suffered and is entitled to damages.
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In doing the acts and making the omissions alleged herein, Defendants acted maliciously and with wanton disregard for the rights, needs and feelings of Plaintiff and by reason thereof, Plaintiff requests punitive damages in the amount of one hundred thousand dollars ($100,000) per Defendant.
FOURTH CAUSE OF ACTION
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Plaintiff realleges and incorporates by reference all of the preceding above as though set forth herein in full.
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This cause of action is brought pursuant to the previously cited jurisdictions set forth heretofore.
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The above described acts and omissions of Defendant Angela J Townsend constitutes deliberate defamation of character and acts of malice, with declared intent to cause further malicious harm to Plaintiff, violating Plaintiff’s rights under law.
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As a direct and proximate result of the acts and omissions alleged above, Plaintiff has suffered and is entitled to damages.
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In doing the acts and making the omissions alleged herein, Defendant acted maliciously with intent to cause harm to Plaintiff and his reputation, and with wanton disregard for the rights, needs and feelings of Plaintiff and by reason thereof, Plaintiff requests punitive damages in the amount of one hundred thousand dollars ($100,000) per incident committed by Defendant Townsend, and against any future acts discovered after filing of this complaint.
FIFTH CAUSE OF ACTION
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Plaintiff realleges and incorporates by reference all of the preceding above as though set forth herein in full.
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This cause of action is brought pursuant to the previously cited jurisdictions set forth heretofore.
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The above described acts and omissions of Defendants, and each of them, have demonstrated an intent and purpose to willfully and deliberately utilize a trademark to which they do not have consent to use and have violated the usage of said trademark for the period in which they did have consent, violating Plaintiff’s rights under law.
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Defendants’ foregoing acts and omissions have demonstrated a clearly credible history that Defendants have utilized the Mark in violation of limited, conditional consent and later without Plaintiff’s consent altogether, and thereupon, there is a real and credible threat that Defendants will continue to utilize the Mark without Plaintiff’s consent.
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Plaintiff will be wronged again and there exists a sufficient likelihood of substantial injury should Defendants be permitted to continue to utilize the Mark during these proceedings.
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As a direct and proximate result of acts, omissions and constitutional violations alleged above, Plaintiff has suffered and is entitled to relief.
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In doing the acts and making the omissions alleged herein, Defendants acted maliciously and with wanton disregard for the rights, needs and feelings of Plaintiff and by reason thereof, Plaintiff requests temporary and permanent injunctive relief through order of the Court prohibiting any Defendant or agent, associate, representative, or employee thereof from further utilizing the Mark in any capacity.
SIXTH CAUSE OF ACTION
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Plaintiff realleges and incorporates by reference all of the preceding above as though set forth herein in full.
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This cause of action is brought pursuant to the previously cited jurisdictions set forth heretofore.
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Plaintiff has sufficient cause to believe that many of Defendants’ actions remain unknown and undiscovered, though Plaintiff has expectation of learning of such acts and omissions that are believed to be in violation of Plaintiff’s rights under law.
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As a direct and proximate result of acts, omissions and constitutional violations alleged above, Plaintiff is expected to suffer and will be entitled to damages.
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In doing the acts and making the omissions alleged herein, Defendants will have acted maliciously and with wanton disregard for the rights, needs and feelings of Plaintiff and by reason thereof, Plaintiff would request appropriate damages, and thereon reserves the right to amend these pleadings to seek such from the Court.
CONCLUSION
Plaintiff acted in good faith in assisting Defendant Townsend in revising and renaming her novel, “Fears of a Fisherman” in 2013. Plaintiff graciously created the name “The Forlorned” for said Defendant’s novel and assisted her in recovering a file which she would never have been able to revise had Plaintiff not been able to do so. Plaintiff continued to act in whole support of said Defendant’s efforts, continuing to provide extensive expertise and labor to support the project which boar his trademarked name, “The Forlorned”.
Utilizing Plaintiff’s trademark and services, said Defendant was able to acquire a prestigious level of success through both a movie adaptation of her novel and a new publication agreement. It is indisputable that for Plaintiff’s goodwill, Defendant Townsend would never have had a document with which to revise nor the unique brand impact which utilizing Plaintiff’s trademark provided. In effect, Defendant Townsend’s success was entirely founded upon the work and intellectual property of Plaintiff.
Clearly Plaintiff had a vested interest in Defendant Townsend’s success since it meant a much broader recognition of his own brand as an author himself, and he therefore exercised nothing but diligence in helping said Defendant attain success. And all he ever asked in return was for his claim upon the trademark’s creation and work upon the project as a whole be acknowledged.
Yet Defendant Townsend had apparently intended only bad faith from the outset. In seeking of Plaintiff not to “file anything” on Plaintiff’s trademark, she believed that she would be able to deny Plaintiff’s claim to the trademark at a future date, after Plaintiff’s usefulness was expended. But this fact also worked against Defendants in this cause, since Defendants also knew that they could not file anything upon the trademark either without losing Plaintiff’s critical assistance in the project’s development and creating the very conflict raised in this complaint much earlier. With Defendant The Folorned, LLC’s membership being comprised entirely of individuals specializing in the law, Defendants filed for every other conceivable registration and permit needed to produce their movie, but never filed for a trademark upon “The Forlorned” until after Plaintiff withdrew his consent to its use. This alone demonstrates that Defendants knew full well they did not own the trademark, but sought through duplicity and fraud to compel Plaintiff to abandon his claims thereto. But when Plaintiff demonstrated a greater understanding of his rights under law than they expected, Defendants had no choice but to file a significantly belated claim to the trademark, committing fraud in the process.
After over a year and a half of dedicated assistance and support from Plaintiff, Defendants let greed get the best of them on the eve of the movie’s release. Together, they collectively sought to outright steal not only Plaintiff’s trademark, but also the credit for all the hard work and loyal dedication that Plaintiff had provided selflessly to assure their success.
Defendant Townsend and The Forlorned LLC clearly believed they had found a vulnerability in Plaintiff by attempting to utilize Plaintiff’s sex offender status as a safety valve to eject Plaintiff from the project once they neared actually having to deliver upon their commitment under the limited, conditional consent agreement. Said Defendants – having all been informed well in advance of such status – clearly conspired early on to steal credit for Plaintiff’s expertise and intellectual property, holding the “sex offender card” in reserve to withdraw from their agreements made with Plaintiff, and to outright abscond with Plaintiff’s intellectual property. It is indisputable that bad faith existed from the beginning, and Defendants are not entitled to profit from such blatant fraud.
Defendant Townsend however took the matter even further. Recognizing that Defendants’ plan to remove Plaintiff was flawed after Plaintiff asserted his legal rights, she committed criminal conduct and committed deliberate acts of malice and harm against Plaintiff in retaliation. And she has made it abundantly clear that she intends to continue causing further harm against Plaintiff for his lawful assertion of his rights under law.
Defendants had the opportunity to utilize Plaintiff’s trademark so long as they acted in good faith. Likewise, they had a reasonable opportunity to cease and desist in the use of the trademark once their duplicity was exposed. But they plainly never had any intention of doing either. And as a consequence of their duplicity and bad faith, Plaintiff is entitled to seek relief against them for their malicious acts.
WHEREFORE, Plaintiff respectfully requests relief as follows:
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Temporary, preliminary and permanent injunctive relief through order of the Court prohibiting any Defendant or agent, associate, representative, or employee thereof from further utilizing Plaintiff’s trademarked name and title “The Forlorned” in any capacity;
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Punitive damages in the amount of two hundred thousand dollars ($200,000.00) per Defendant;
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The award to Plaintiff of all profits, proceeds, or moneys received by Defendants in any form solicited from and through the use of the trademark name and title “The Forlorned”, and from any other material reliant or related to such infringements which are connected to the reliance upon said trademark;
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Punitive damages in the amount of one hundred thousand dollars ($100,000) per act of malice and harm committed by Defendant Angela J Townsend against Plaintiff, and against any future acts discovered after filing of this complaint;
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Cost of suit herein, including any reasonable attorney fees which Plaintiff may accrue; and
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Such other and further relief as the Court may deem proper.
Plaintiff above named does hereby attest under penalty of perjury that the foregoing is true and correct to the best of his ability to present and that this is respectfully submitted on the 2nd day of March, 2015.
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Ron Glick, Plaintiff
The Godslayer Cycle 