Replies to post #17963 on West Coast Ventures Group Corp fka WCVC

[PennyHoper]

In Sep 2020, Ilegal Mezcal filed a Trademark opposition against Illegal Brands IP:
https://ttabvue.uspto.gov/ttabvue/v?pno=88598662&pty=EXT

The Trademark Board granted Ilegal Mezcal a delay to get their case ready, so the more formal opposition began in December 2020:
https://ttabvue.uspto.gov/ttabvue/v?pno=91266421&pty=OPP

and has continued down through today.

On March 13, 2023, Ilegal Mezcal entered filings -- at the Board's order -- to prove that they have been engaged in good-faith settlement negotiations for a good chunk of 2021 and the entirety of 2022.

What can be seen of the publicly available filings shows that an agreement was reached and was just awaiting Nixon's signature.

Illegal Brands IP has owned the trademark on the name "Ilegal Brands" for some time, having gotten it without opposition.

However, when it applied for a Trademark for its graphic representation (=logo) on shirts, hats, and etc.:
https://tsdr.uspto.gov/#caseNumber=88598662&caseSearchType=US_APPLICATION&caseType=SERIAL_NO&searchType=statusSearch

Ilegal Mezcal opposed it, claiming it looked too much like -- and thus would be confused for -- Ilegal Mezcal's graphic logo on its product bottles.

Note: I couldn't find evidence that Ilegal Mezcal actually owns a trademark on its own graphic logo, so I think that Ilegal Mezal realized it was late to the game on owning the trademark on "Ilegal ..." branded products, so attempted to muscle-in on what Nixon already owns, doing so through the side-door of the graphic-logo route, and not the entire name itself (which, again, Nixon already owns as "Illegal Brands").

These are the basic facts.

Everything else about the nature of any joint venture between Nixon's restaurants and Ilegal Mezcal products is speculation.

But ... the timing is right for restaurants to promote and sell mezcal products.

[PennyHoper]

It might also be worth mentioning that back in 2020, Nixon filed an NT 10-Q Nov-17, 2020 (notice of late filing), which was after the Trademark opposition began, and then never filed his late 10-Q at all.

Trademark Board case filings of 1-13-2021 and 4-2-2021 show that they began settlement negotiations at that time.

Nixon began to increase his O/S sometime around Feb 2021, until it reached about 7B (the total increase was about 3.6B, on top of what was originally 3.4B).

Nixon allowed WCVC to get demoted to the Expert Market late Sep 2021, and was revoked Feb 23, 2022. All that while they were in settlement negotiations.

On or about Feb 23, 2022, Nixon moved WCVC (on paper) to Florida, and also created LLCs for a 2nd Kalaka Mexican Kitchen and for his new Takiza Taco & Tequila Bar.

The 2nd Kalaka Mexican Kitchen has opened, and his www.takiza.com website says that TWO Takiza places are 'coming soon'.

Late 2022, Nixon bought, refurbished, and reopened a Mexican restaurant called El Cazo.

So, Nixon seems to be investing more heavily in Mexican food, which, arguably, pairs nicely with tequila, and would pair well with mezcal. A little poking around with Google shows that the popularity of mezcal is increasing.