Photo Brings New Flap to Colton Topless Club
A topless club in Colton that is battling the state over its logo -- a replica of a freeway sign -- is now under fire for using billboards with a photograph of a woman wearing only a tool belt.
Getty Images, which owns one of the world’s largest photo collections, says it owns the rights to the image and has demanded that Club 215 either pay to use the photo or remove the billboards.
The dispute is the latest legal squabble involving Club 215, a strip club in an industrial neighborhood next to Interstate 215. Last year, the state Department of Transportation demanded that the club stop using the replica of a freeway emblem on signs because it could create confusion for motorists on the freeway.
The American Assn. of State Highway and Transportation Officials, a nonprofit organization representing state transportation officials, has said it owns the trademark for the interstate highway shield and has demanded that Club 215 stop using the logo without its permission.
“You can’t take the ‘M’ out of a McDonald’s sign and put in Club 215,” said Ken Kobetsky, program director for the group. “And so you can’t do that with the freeway shield.”
“We are now fighting on three fronts,” said Roger Diamond, an attorney for Club 215.
Diamond said the club had not violated any copyright or trademarks. He said Club 215 had used the replica of the freeway shield since it opened in 1996, and until last year, Caltrans and the transportation organization did not protest. As for the billboard, Diamond said, Club 215 hired a model and photographer to shoot the image last March.
The club’s freeway shield logo is displayed outside the club, on a large sign facing Interstate 215, and on several freeway-adjacent billboards in Riverside and San Bernardino counties. The freeway shield replica, with the word “Club” substituted for the word “Interstate,” is also used on T-shirts and tank tops sold at the club.
During an administrative hearing in June, Caltrans ruled that Club 215’s logo violated state law regarding the use of signs that resemble highway markers near freeways. The sign, Caltrans officials argued, could confuse motorists or mislead them into thinking the strip club is affiliated with the state agency.
Diamond contested the ruling, arguing that club owners were not invited to the hearing. He said only the owners of the billboard company testified.
Caltrans officials agreed to review Diamond’s written appeal, which he submitted Feb. 9. “The government has no compelling interest in prohibiting the utilization of the sign by Club 215 unless it can demonstrate confusion by motorists or interference with the operation of the highway or the freeway,” the appeal stated.
Meanwhile, Diamond received a letter Feb. 9 from a Washington, D.C., law firm representing the AASHTO, which helped standardize freeway signs starting in the 1960s. The law firm demanded that Club 215 “immediately cease and desist from all use of AASHTO’s trademarked shield.”
AASHTO spokeswoman Jennifer Gavin said the group routinely learned of companies using freeway shields as logos. “When it comes to our attention, we contact folks,” she said.
In a letter, Diamond asked AASHTO to prove the group owned the trademark. He also asked whether the group had evidence that anyone had ever confused the Club 215 logo with the official highway shield. He said AASHTO had yet to reply.
Meanwhile, Getty Images wrote to Club 215 in September, warning that it owned the copyright to a photo that was nearly identical to the image of the nude woman wearing a tool belt that the club uses on its billboards, website and souvenirs.
Laura Malone, an attorney for Getty Images, said Club 215 was violating copyright if it took a photo of a different model but used the same subject matter, pose and layout.
