Myrtle Beach Area Chamber
“In a pre-calculated measure by the Myrtle Beach Area Chamber, this lawsuit victory now completely opens the door for the company registered by Brittain with an almost exact and identical state trademark to now go on the federal register and leverage that unchallenged trademark so as to gain greater control of hotel marketing nationally.” (Matthew Brittain’s almost identical trademark is now the trademark of record because of the actions by the Myrtle Beach Area Chamber)
After examining what would amount to 3 or more additional years of an ongoing and costly defense effort from a lawsuit filed by the Myrtle Beach Area Chamber of Commerce, Myrtle Beach Hotels, LLC released a statement today confirming the company has decided not to continue spending hundreds of thousands of dollars defending its own legal trademarked name. “After much prayer, last month, I sent a letter to the board president of the Myrtle Beach Area Chamber quoting Matthew 5:40,” said David Hucks, owner of Myrtle Beach Hotels, LLC. In Googling the quote, we noted it read: “And if anyone wants to sue you and take your shirt, hand over your coat as well.”
The lawsuit was filed by the Myrtle Beach Area Chamber listing Brad Dean, the Myrtle Beach Chamber’s CEO/President, as their key witness. The lawsuit was filed on January 14, 2014 just after Myrtle Beach Hotels, LLC had sent a cease and desist letter to Matthew Brittain, who was illegally using Myrtle Beach Hotels’ name on its phone lines at 888-555-5326. Brittain’s company was also using Myrtle Beach Hotels’ name in national advertisements. The phone number has since been discontinued.
In a pre-calculated measure by the Myrtle Beach Chamber, this win now completely opens the door for the company registered by Brittain [click link to see Brittain Trademark Registration] to now go on the federal register and leverage Brittain’s trademark so as to allow Brittain’s hotels greater control of national marketing.
“I do believe this was the intent all along,” said Hucks. “There is a long standing preferred relationship between the Myrtle Beach Area Chamber of Commerce and Matthew Brittain. Why else would a Chamber of Commerce choose to sue a local business for its privately held trademark? Why would the Chamber of Commerce selectively choose to sue only one business when the other held practically the identical mark?” The Myrtle Beach Area Chamber has been under investigation by Torrence Boussard, lead investigator of the FBI since $324,000 in suspicious payments were made to local politicians over five years ago. Matthew’s brother, David Brittain, was previous Chamber Board President at the time when these funds were used in a successful attempt to get a 1% local option sales tax passed that now provides the chamber with over $25 million in tax welfare annually.
The trademarked business owned by Brittain was supposedly sold to Intellistrand last year. Intellistrand’s S.C. Secretary of State registration was changed on June 11, 2014 listing Scott Brandon as the designated agent. Tommy Pate was bought out of the business at that time. Scott Brandon is a local lawyer in Myrtle Beach, S.C. His family also has a long history of partnerships with Matthew Brittain co-owning the Myrtle Beach National Company for decades. The two have also collaborated on marketing concerns together. While suspicions have circulated concerning Intellistrand’s total ownership, as Tommy Pate will not return calls on the matter, and Scott Brandon remains quiet on the matter, it is not clear if Matthew Brittain is an owner in Intellistrand or not. Intellistrand is now listed as the owner of the business in question on WHOIS.com.
“I spoke with Scott earlier in the Spring,” said Hucks. “He claimed to have purchased the site late last Fall. I was personally told at that time the site was not for sale by Clay Brittain, a local Myrtle Beach attorney, and brother of Matthew Brittain. I asked Scott Brandon about the trademark he now held on the site. Scott said he planned to continue using that mark.” The mark is now worth tens of millions of dollars thanks to the Myrtle Beach Area Chamber of Commerce’s selective pursuit of Myrtle Beach Hotels, LLC.
For total trademark cancellation, the Myrtle Beach Area Chamber must follow through completely with its request. “That way, this matter will entirely be on their heads eternally,” said Hucks. “I have turned over areas of the case that I feel show collusion to the FBI, however, the FBI has become a political animal in the past few decades. While I don’t put a lot of stock in them doing anything, I do put stock in handing this matter over to God. The problem with humans and human systems is that we are all finite. Regardless of what we think we pulled off, we eventually have to stare into the face of an all knowing God. I trust him in whatever he wants to do with Brad Dean and Matthew Brittain,” Hucks concluded.
