Contacts: Tony Vella
General Manager, RLR
650-302-7779 John Vella
Owner, RLR
510-727-0750
Raiders and Former Tackle Vella
Reach Settlement
Castro Valley, CA (April 24th,
2003) - - Federal
Judge Martin Jenkins approved a settlement today between the Oakland Raiders,
in conjunction with the NFL Properties, and John Vella’s Raider Locker Room
(RLR) of Castro Valley, CA. This resulted from a lawsuit filed February 28th,
claiming trademark infringement and the selling of unlicensed, infringing or
counterfeit merchandise.
Under the
terms of the settlement, RLR agreed remove the “Raider Shield Logo” and the
name “Raider” from the store signage and all other media, and continue business
under the name, Vella’s Locker Room. In addition, Vella will be forced to
assist in transferring his domain name, raiderlockerroom.com, to the NFL
Properties. The retail chain will continue its online business under the domain
name, vellaslockerroom.com. Vella also agreed to cease use of his toll-free
phone number, 1-888-77-RAIDER (1-888-777-2433), by a future date at which point
incoming calls will be transferred to their new toll free number,
1-866-JVELLAS. One part of the settlement - - removing all infringing
merchandise from the stores - - was a moot point in the negotiations, as the
RLR had removed all questionable merchandise as of February 28th, the first day
they were made aware of the lawsuit. The amount of questionable merchandise was
minimal, and the RLR had been requesting an opportunity to discuss the
parameters of legal merchandise with NFL Properties months prior to the
lawsuit.
The
lawsuit did come after an attempt at reconciliation. During the past year,
Vella and the team met periodically to discuss possible business opportunities.
Team management discussed merger and royalty scenarios and team owner, Al
Davis, personally suggested employment as an alternative option during a phone
conversation. However, the Raiders failed to put one serious offer on the table
along any of those lines, and instead, forced Vella into litigation. Vella, who
was unwilling to battle the Raiders or the NFL in court for financial and
principal reasons, agreed to settle a lawsuit filled with fallacies, for fear
of being dragged into a financial morass.
Vella,
who played right tackle for the Raiders from 1972 to 1979 and was part of the
Super Bowl XI Championship team, started his business in 1987 with one store in
Castro Valley, CA. At the time, the Raiders played in Los Angeles. He had a novel idea – create a retail store
that would sell only Raider gear, novelties and collectibles catering to the
die-hard fan that he remembered from his playing days. He quickly realized he
had found a niche and when the Raiders returned to Oakland in 1995, his
business boomed. Over 16 years, Vella has grown his business to 4 stores,
expanding to the Bay Area cities of Fremont, Pleasant Hill and Milpitas. Vella
has also created an online Web site and currently in discussions to open
another store.
(more)
For 14
years, Vella was virtually left alone by NFL Properties. During this time,
members of the Raider organization were well aware of Vella’s business but had
no significant problems or objections to Vella and his stores. Only since the
resurrection of the Oakland Raider’s retail outlets, The Raider Image, two
years ago, has there been strain between the former player and his team. The RLR stands as the largest competitor to
the Raider Image chain that has 9 locations plus an ecommerce Website.
Since
1987, the RLR has been committed to the Raider faithful. The company prides
itself on having the most and best authentic Raider merchandise and catering to
the die-hard Raider fanatic. They frequently hold autograph signings with
current and past Raider players to allow their customers to meet their football
heroes. They organize group trips to Raider away games, including a trip to
Super Bowl XXXVII. Vella believes in his business and will continue to provide
quality service and merchandise to fans for years to come.
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