Bikers fight to own "dyke": it's taken three years and the fight is still not over, but members of the country's most famous group of biking lesbians are finally winning the right to own their own name.(PRIDE)(trademark case)

Publication: The Advocate (The national gay & lesbian newsmagazine)

Publication Date: 20-JUN-06

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COPYRIGHT 2006 Liberation Publications, Inc.

The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office has a track record of approving provocative slogans and business names. Psychobitch. Evil Pussy. Cheap Slut. Whore. Piss Off. All have been approved. So when members of the San Francisco Women's Motorcycle Contingent sought in 2003 to trademark their self-given moniker--Dykes on Bikes--they expected to sail through the approval process. Instead, their application sparked a nightmarish three-year battle with federal officials. "We didn't count on an incredible amount of bias by the government," laments Soni Wolf, 57, the longtime secretary of the group.

Formed in 1976...

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