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"Our contention is that none of the individual Imperials won group awards," Smith said. "It's very similar to a sports team. If a player retires, he doesn't take the awards with him unless he won individual awards. The team won those championships. They stay with the team."

The elder Morales says he signed the document in 2005 because he had retired from the Imperials in 2003 and that "it made sense" at the time to transfer the name to his son and the new group. He adds that the younger group was "pressuring me to get out of the group, even though I was the owner. … They thought they could do things better and didn't need an old guy."

Armond Morales moved to Hawaii to sing with the Classic Imperials, but when the company they worked for went bankrupt, the group moved to Tennessee in 2006. At that time, the younger group and Armond interviewed with Southern Gospel News announcing the groups' coexistence in Tennessee. The younger group said, "We are honored to carry on this legacy, and it's always a big honor to be on stage with them."

Smith now says MOSH agreed to that interview because they were "trying to make the best of a bad situation." He says MOSH never believed the two groups could exist in the same market.

"It's confusing to people," said Smith, noting that when he books his group, people ask, "Now, which Imperials are you?" Smith said. "I shouldn't have to explain who's who."

Armond Morales said he doesn't believe his performances with the Classic Imperials are taking business away from the younger group. The Classic Imperials sang about 25 concerts in 2007, while the younger group performed more than 150 times.

In August 2006, MOSH applied to the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office for the national trademark to "The Imperials," but was denied because another singer — Clarence Collins — owns the name.

Collins is a member of Little Anthony & the Imperials, an African American group popular in the late 1950s and early '60s. During the height of their popularity, Armond Morales contacted Collins to seek permission to use the name "the Imperials" for his fledgling group. In March 2007, Collins told the U.S. Trademark Trial and Appeal Board that he did grant Morales permission to use the Imperials name back in the 1960s, but according to the trademark office, Collins still owns the national trademark.

Then in October 2006, MOSH filed a petition of cancellation with the trademark board, asking to have Collins removed as owner of the Imperials trademark. The group claimed that Collins committed fraud because he knew Armond Morales was using "the Imperials" name, and because Collins changed the name of his group from "the Imperials" to "Little Anthony & the Imperials." MOSH also claims that because Collins's group has not continued to perform over the years, it "abandoned" the trademark, thus making it available to others. However, a decision on the trademark petition was suspended due to MOSH's lawsuit against Armond Morales.

When Armond Morales found out MOSH was going after the national trademark, he contacted Collins. According to court documents, Armond Morales asked Collins for permission to use the Imperials name so he could continue singing with the Classic Imperials. Morales told Collins at the time that MOSH was planning to sue the elder Morales for using the name.

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February (Web-only) 2008, Vol. 52