HARRISBURG -- And the winner is ... pageant operator WinACrown by Lily Entertainment.
Commonwealth Court on Thursday kept the trademark "Miss Pittsburgh" in the hands of WinACrown owner Michele J. Alexander, turning away a rival's effort to have the mark canceled.
Alexander obtained the trademark from a third entity, Coronation Inc., which first registered it in 1996. Alexander and her daughter, Shani J. Alexander, have operated an annual Miss Pittsburgh pageant since 1998.
"It's a real big deal," Michele Alexander said Thursday. "It gives us exclusivity, which we were always meant to have here in southwest Pennsylvania for the title Miss Pittsburgh."
Her ownership of the mark was challenged by Stephen T. Lupinetti, who once served as a judge for the Alexanders and for the past several years has co-directed pageants for the Miss America Organization. Court records indicate he conducted a Miss Pittsburgh scholarship pageant from 1997-99 and since 2003. His pageant currently goes by "Miss Greater Pittsburgh."
Lupinetti's pageants are nonprofit, involve a talent competition and feed into the Miss Pennsylvania and Miss America systems. Alexander's pageant is a for-profit enterprise, has no talent component and does not lead to participation in other competitions.
The Department of State had ruled that Alexander's trademark had not fallen into disuse, and therefore did not meet a legal standard under which registered marks can be canceled after being abandoned for five years.
The appeals court upheld that decision, declining to consider Lupinetti's argument that the mark should not have been registered because it is "primarily geographically descriptive."
Still pending is an Allegheny County Common Pleas Court lawsuit filed by Alexander against Lupinetti, seeking to end his use of the Miss Pittsburgh name. That case has been on hold while the Department of State and Commonwealth Court considered the trademark issues.
Alexander said she will vigorously oppose any attempt by Lupinetti to continue using the "Miss Greater Pittsburgh" name.
Bill Otto, a lawyer for Lupinetti and the father of a former Miss Pennsylvania, said the government misinterpreted the facts. He has not decided whether to appeal.
A county judge may have to decide several of the trademark issues raised by Lupinetti because they were deemed to fall outside the Department of State's jurisdiction, leaving Lupinetti a legal opening, Otto said.
"They did not find that Michele Alexander owns the trademark free and clear and that it is valid and fully enforceable," Otto said. Alexander obtained the trademark from Coronation Inc. without money changing hands and without any actual assets -- which Otto said invalidates the trademark transfer.
Peter J. King, Alexander's lawyer, said the transfer is legally valid even though money or assets were not exchanged. He said the Department of State and Commonwealth Court decisions unambiguously upheld her claim to ownership of the Miss Pittsburgh trademark.
