The Santa Cruz Surfing Club copyright lawsuit is still heading for court according to lawyers on either side of the dispute, despite attempts to settle. After the suit against Ryan Rittenhouse Jr. was filed on Dec. 30, 2008 by the Santa Cruz Surfing Club Preservation Society and club founder Harry Mayo, there was talk on both sides of settling out of court. Now it appears that those efforts were for naught. A settlement “would be the best thing for everyone involved, but I don’t know that that’s going to happen,” Rittenhouse attorney James Chadwick told the Sentinel. A trial date is expected to be set at a September 18 court appointment in San Francisco.
Rittenhouse, the grandson of original Santa Cruz Surfing Club member Bob Rittenhouse, copyrighted the club name and logo in 2006 and has founded a company that sells shirts, hats and other memorabilia using both. Though Rittenhouse Jr. claimed his copyright was meant to prevent other companies with no ties to the original club from using the name and mark, Mayo and the members of the SCSC Preservation Society, a club that is now made up of original Surfing Club members and other local surfing advocates, have charged him with stealing the logo and essentially tricking Mayo into handing over the rights to photos and other club material. Though there ostensibly was a time when Rittenhouse and Mayo were working together to copyright the club name, lines have now been drawn in the sand, breaking up old friendships between Rittenhouse Sr. and his former clubmates. The Preservation Society says it would like to use proceeds from merchandise with the club logo to run the Santa Cruz Surfing Museum, which the city of Santa Cruz handed over responsibility for after budget woes would have forced the museum to close. Rittenhouse Jr. has said in the past he wants to continue to run his company while donating money to a nonprofit chapter made up of orginial club members. Rittenhouse had filed a motion to dismiss, but withdrew it with plans to amend the complaint. Neither side’s lawyer would say how or why settlement discussions fell through.
