Hells Angels Suing Amazon, Others

It's always a bad idea to infringe on someone else's trademarks, but probably an even worse idea when that someone else is the Hells Angels.

The Hells Angels Motorcycle Corporation is suing Amazon, along with several other clothing retailers, including an Emeryville shop called Nasty Girl, for selling a t-shirt that says "My Boyfriend's a Hells Angel" reports SF Weekly.

Many years ago the Hells Angels Club created the corporation to protect the usage of their logos and trademarks. 

"They retained trademark counsel back in the late 70s or early 80s and in fact Sunny Barger, the iconic leader of the Oakland Hells Angels says in his autobiography that prior to that time if they saw somebody with a patch, they could just beat them up on the street. But if you've got corporations doing it, you've got to hire lawyers," Hells Angels Lawyer Fritz Clapp explained on 97.3 KIRO FM's Ross and Burbank Show.

You can hear a portion of the interview here.

The Hells Angels have asked a San Francisco federal judge to award them three times the profits made from the sales of the shirts.

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