Recently, a number of Pulpmags members including Walker Martin and
Curt Phillips have been wondering about the status of the Dayton
Pulpcon. In a very eloquent post, Walker wrote: "As one of the
original attendees of the first Pulpcon and a long-standing supporter
since 1972, I feel I deserve an answer concerning Pulpcon 38 in
Dayton, Ohio. I ask again Mary, what do you, Don, and Bob have to
say?"
In today's mail, Jack Cullers received an answer to Walker's
question. In the mail was a two-page letter from Robert W. Jones,
Attorney at Law, retained by Robert Gorton. The letter asked Jack to
voluntarily withdraw his application to register the service
mark "PULPCON," and to discontinue using the mark on the Pulpcon 2009
website. Mr. Jones went on to state that although Rusty Hevelin's
initial registration of the "PULPCON" service mark had lapsed in
1989, since Robert Gorton had been named Rusty's successor in
interest to Pulpcon and had been handling the convention's business
matters since approximately 2003, any use that Jack or others on the
Pulpcon committee made of the service mark was "only with the express
or implied authority of Mr. Gorton."
Rather than argue with Bob Gorton over the use of the Pulpcon name,
Jack Cullers, Ed Hulse, Barry Traylor and I have decided to change
the name of the pulp convention that we are planning to stage in
Columbus, Ohio in the summer of 2009. Beginning immediately, our
convention will be known as PulpFest 2009. I have already registered
our new domain name and you will soon be able to access the website
by visiting www.pulpfest.com.
In a post dated October 8, 2008, Will Murray wrote: "A new Pulpcon
with a new name would signal new energy. And Windy City has shown
that the name doesn't matter. It's the energy behind the convention
committee." Jack, Ed, Barry and I feel that we have demonstrated and
will continue to demonstrate that we have the energy to stage a
successful convention.
It is the opinion of the PulpFest 2009 Committee that the success of
a convention is not based on its name. Rather, it is based on the
attitude of the people who attend the show and the treatment they
receive when they spend their time, money and effort to travel to
that convention. We intend to treat people at PulpFest 2009 as
partners, rather than opponents. Come the summer of 2009, we will be
the ones staging what Mary Ramlow has called "the `true' Pulpcon." We
hope you will join us as partners in Columbus, Ohio from July 31
through August 2, 2009.
Mike Chomko
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