AIRAN SCRUBY
Staff Writer
A revitalized Malibu Pier will be open to the public in the summer, but trademark disputes have cast doubts on what the pier may be called.
Though the pier has been called by the same name for decades, the owner of an Internet-based company has taken steps to trademark the name as his intellectual property.
The state is fighting businessman Stephen Harper’s assertions in court, and Jefferson Wagner, the master concessionaire for the pier, said he believes they will prevail.
Harper is a brand developer who applied to trademark the name “Malibu Pier” in 2003, under International Class 25. This means the name would be trademarked in the use of clothing and related goods.
The state is suing Harper for trademark infringement. Harper, an Agoura Hills resident, filed counterclaims that the state committed fraud by trying to trademark the name. Though neither Harper nor the state had finalized trademark ownership, Harper applied to use the name before the state. The state applied in 2005.
Wagner, a lifelong resident of Malibu and the owner of Zuma Jay’s Surfshop, is acting as a middle man between the state and businesses who might want to settle on the pier. As the grand commissionaire of Malibu Pier Partners, he believes that the pier (and its name) are the property of the people of California.
Wagner denounces Harper as a poacher. Since the pier has always been called the Malibu Pier, Wagner said it is impossible for the name to be the intellectual property of Stephen Harper.
“Stephen Harper can crawl into a hole and try to poach some other intellectual image,” Wagner said.
Harper responded through his lawyer, Cris Armenta. Armenta said Harper had no interest in the pier, or in preventing them from using the name Malibu Pier, because Harper’s trademark is for clothing items and does not pertain to the Malibu Pier itself.
Armenta said the real issue at hand is whether Harper could use the name as a clothing trademark, not whether the pier could be called the Malibu Pier.
The case is scheduled for trial in July.
Wagner said that despite the case and continuing work on the safety of the pier, businesses there will open on schedule.
The Malibu Pier was built in 1906 by the Rindges family, who owned what is now Malibu and used the pier as their summer house. At that time, the pier was used for docking yachts and for shipping goods to the Rindges (their daughter, Rhoda Adamson, built the Adamson House).
After numerous court cases forced May Rindge to allow Pacific Coast Highway to be built on the property and money troubles made new income necessary, she began leasing, then selling, land to celebrities and other wealthy people who desired secluded beachfront property.
Wagner said the pier was owned by Pepperdine University in the 1970s, and the state obtained it in 1980. The pier remained open to the public until 1992, when the pier was deemed unsafe because of engineering deficiencies involving its underwater support.
The state decided to revitalize the landmark, however, and it is scheduled to reopen to in the summer. The state has provided nearly $10 million for the project, which was scheduled to be completed in three phases over five years.
The new Malibu Pier will feature restaurants, T-shirt kiosks, and a sport fishing operation. The pier will also have a 1960s motif, to commemorate the earlier atmosphere of the landmark. On and beside the pier, a small museum of local history and the pier will be built.
10-31-2005