“I have been receiving several emails and messages lately regarding elk calls, specifically my Elk101 branded signature line of elk calls, and I wanted to let you know that I am no longer involved or affiliated with Rocky Mountain Hunting Calls (RMHC) in any way. In fact, there are (unfortunately) multiple lawsuits currently ongoing between myself and RMHC regarding my decision to leave.
My parents - who started and ran RMHC for 25+ years - sold the business a few years ago, and the new ownership recently began moving in a direction that didn't align with my personal vision or the standards of my business. So, at the end of 2022, I made the decision to terminate my relationship with RMHC and to no longer license my name, image and likeness or the Elk101 brand to them. As of January 1, RMHC was no longer authorized to sell products bearing my name or the Elk101 brand. But, instead of separating amicably as I tried multiple times to do, RMHC chose instead to embroil me in an expensive lawsuit. They have even gone as far as to apply for the federal trademark rights to the Elk101 name and logo. To make matters worse, they continue to promote, sell and benefit from my name and the Elk101 brand without permission and against my demands to cease, which left me with no option but to sue RMHC for federal trademark infringement.
I am not currently putting my name on a new line of calls, nor am I currently working with another call manufacturer, but you can be certain that I fully intend to be closely involved in providing quality elk call products again in the near future.
Being involved in lawsuits regarding Elk101 is the last thing I ever envisioned having to deal with, especially against a company that my parents started and ran for nearly 3 decades. But I've spent the past 15 years building a reputation of honesty and integrity in the hunting industry, and continually pushing to achieve the highest level of quality possible for myself and for my business, and unfortunately, I had no choice but to stand up and defend that reputation.“
Glad I don’t have a dog in THAT fight; we gave away more than we intended to once… probably cost us $40k. But at least we only made that mistake once…
That said, I cannot find ANY solid info on DDA Holdings. The only DDA Holdings I can find is in LA, and they are a fashion brands holding company. Hard to imagine they were the buyers. If so, that explains a lot.
Indeed. And it would really SUCK to have sold the use of your name & likeness to people who are not running the family business up to the family’s standards. Sounds like that’s the basis of the problem, but generally speaking…. Once you’ve sold the rights….
It’s like Prince said - either you own the masters or they own you.
Hope he can extract himself if they’re not cutting it.
Contracts/agreements are pretty cut and dry. What’s in them is what’s in them and if something is not in them then well. Not much of a leg to stand on. How things a worded means a lot. Things left up for interpretation can be harmful.
A couple of things I have learned the last few years. Way too many people do not read the contract before signing. The other is to much CYA in a contract can blow the deal as well.
There’s that bumper sticker/T-shirt that says “If you think Education is expensive, you should try Ignorance.”
If it’s a legal matter? It’s X10….
