Music is engrained into all parts of life for Larry Keen. He first joined a choir when he was 6 years old and sang in his first band by age 12.
"My mother would drive me to the gigs," Keen recalled.
The singer-songwriter has played professionally for more than 30 years, sharing the stage with various artists including the legendary Jimmy Buffett.
"[I] was an opening act for him — I knew him," said Keen.
So, when a booking agent contacted him about starting a Jimmy Buffett tribute band, Keen said it seemed like an "obvious" choice if he was going to do a tribute band.
After throwing around names, Keen landed on "Bama Breeze." He looked up the trademark and saw it was available! But, to claim it, he needed some help.
"I didn't know how to do a trademark. I typed in 'trademarks' [and] 'registry' and number one, this Trademark Regency popped up," Keen said, explaining how he went online to find help through a trademark company.
Keen contacted the company. He paid more than $800 with the understanding the company, Trademark Regency, would handle everything and apply for the trademark in his name.
Keen says he even received an email stating the company had applied, but it would take some time to go through.
Months went by without an update. Keen decided to reach out but says it seemed off - company representatives never called from the same number, they claimed to have had his incorrect email on file, and then they asked for more money.
"Unfortunately, we need to get our lawyer involved. It's another $1,200 to get our lawyer involved," Keen recalled what the representative told him.
He grew suspicious and decided to contact the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) himself.
A representative with the office told him no one had applied for the trademark, even though he'd paid the company to do so.
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"She said there was never any application filed for that name," explained Keen.
He says the USPTO representative advised him he did not need a lawyer to apply for the trademark. The office has several videos online explaining how to apply. Keen watched those and applied for the trademark himself.
"Within five minutes, over came all the documentation, applied for, you paid for it, it's applied for in your name," he said.
But what about the money he paid to Trademark Regency?
Hoping to get it back, Keen filed a dispute with his credit card company, Capital One. Originally, some of the funds were credited back to him, but then they were reapplied to Trademark Regency.
Keen let ABC15 know.
We reached out to Capital One with proof it was Keen, not Trademark Regency, which applied for the name trademark.
Our team also emailed Trademark Regency at the emails provided on their website. They bounced back or did not get a response. When we called the company at the number listed online and we received a message stating the number was not in service.
But, Keen received good news from Capital One! Their spokesperson let us know they reached a resolution and Keen emailed us an update writing: "I just checked this morning to see if the refund was in my account and yes it certainly was!"
Great news for Keen.
Looking back, he says he wished he had researched trademarks and their requirements more before shelling out cash.
The USPTO has an entire page devoted to warning people looking to file a trademark and trademark owners about potential fraud and scams. A common one the agency mentions is companies that get people to pay fees for services that aren't needed or required.
USPTO has a list of companies that have sent potentially misleading solicitations on their website, as well as ways to report these companies.
If you'd like to learn more about Bama Breeze, you can check them out here.
