A Point of Detail

Throughout this controversy-turned-killing, the exact status of Mr. Lockhart’s business relationship to Bryan Kocis (and Brent Corrigan’s relationship to Cobra Video LLC) has driven errant speculation from all sides. And one matter of particular interest is whether or not Cobra Video’s position that it owned the name ‘Brent Corrigan’ is or was a viable one.

Short answer: Federal Trademark records indicate that Cobra does not own that name, at least not yet.

We can all agree that gay porn is a global business, but Mr. Kocis’ legal quest to own the name that had made him so much cash was just a little more parochial: he sought to get a Federal Trademark on it, filing the paperwork with the US government in August, 2005.

Kocis didn’t live to see the birth of a creature with the monicker Brent Corrigan®.

In the above screen-capture (from the Fed. Trademark database), note line #79: The number is the serial number. If the trademark had been approved, there would also be a second number (the Registration number) beside it (like on lines #80, 81, and 83.)

The next screen-cap shows the details of the application. As you can see, there’s no Registration Number there either. While the application is still ‘Live,’ it appears that the Federal Trademark has not been granted, as of 27 July 2007.

So, now we know.

-KM