Yes, There are no legal ramifications associated with hiring Tierra Legacy or featuring them under the name Tierra in performances. As of now, there has been no court order or judgment regarding ownership of the Tierra trademark. Any assertions of exclusive ownership by Joanna Salas are unequivocally false.

Feel free to disregard it. To date, there is no final determination of ownership by any court or the U.S. Trademark office.

Here is an excerpt on what qualifies as community property in the State of California: Family Code sections 760-770 control whether a particular piece of property is characterized as community property (“CP”) or separate property (“SP”). Section 770 explains that “(a) Separate property of a married person includes all of the following: (1) All property owned by the person before marriage.” (Emphasis added.)

Accordingly, the time at which a piece of property was “acquired” is generally dispositive of its status as either CP or SP. As the seminal source on California family law, the Rutter California Practice Guide on Family Law, explains, “[f]or property characterization purposes, ‘acquired’ contemplates the inception of title … generally meaning the time . . . . when the original property right arose, not the time when it subsequently matured into full legal title. See Marriage of Joaquin (1987) 193 CA3d 1529, 1533, 239 CR 175, 177; see also Marriage of Brandes (2015) 239 CA4th 1461, 1482, 192 CR3d 1, 17

The original property right to a trademark arises upon the mark’s first use in commerce.  Tierra was founded in 1972 – almost 27 years before Rudy’s marriage to Joanna Salas. This date of initial use is undisputed, and appears in the official trademark registration issued by the United States Patent & Trademark Office issued to Rudy Salas.

The federal trademark registration issued during Rudy’s marriage to Joanna is merely a recordation of Rudy’s rights which pre-existed his marriage to Joanna. In accordance with the previously cited law, this registration has no bearing whatsoever on a piece of property’s classification as separate or community property. See, e.g., Marriage of Hug (1984) 154 Cal.App.3d 780, Marriage of Harrison (1986) 179 Cal.App.3d 1216, and Marriage of Nelson (1986) 177 Cal.App.3d 150.  Therefore, based upon the undisputed date for the inception and initial usage of Tierra, the band and the trademark are separate property, not community property owned exclusively by Joanna Salas after Rudy’s death.

You can find a more detail regarding the falsity of Joanna’s ownership claims HERE

The United States Patent and Trademark Office removed Joanna Salas as the exclusive owner of the Tierra trademark pending the outcome of the currently pending litigation in the Superior Court of California for the County of Los Angeles.

Following several legal submissions by the Salas family attorney documenting the ongoing dispute regarding ownership of the TIERRA trademark, the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) took the step of removing Joanna Salas from the Tierra trademark pending the outcome of the pending litigation. The USPTO has explicitly communicated that they will refrain from making a conclusive decision regarding ownership of the Tierra trademark until presented with a court order deciding the matter. This decision by the USPTO is documented in the publicly available assignment record for the TIERRA trademark.

Yes, you can download and read the complaint HERE.

Do not be fooled by a trademark registration certificate which bears Joana Salas’ name as a registrant and owner of the TIERRA trademark. Any TIERRA trademark registration or document from the USPTO purportedly establishing her ownership of the TIERRA trademark is false. An image of the false registration being circulated by Joanna, and obtained from Joanna’s Facebook page is depicted below. A letter from our attorney explaining the falsity of the trademark registration is available HERE.

The actual founders of TIERRA are the Salas Brothers, Rudy and Steve who cofounded the group in 1972. The Tierra band name was trademarked by Rudy and Steve Salas in 1980 in partnership with their managers at the time. Rudy and Steve Salas’ joint ownership is further memorialized in a 2018 written agreement signed by both gentlemen which is on file and publicly available at the USPTO.  Do not be fooled by statements of others, including Joanna Salas, claiming to be a founder of TIERRA.  Any statements identifying persons other than Rudy and Steve as the exclusive founders of TIERRA are false. In addition to the 2018 Agreement between Rudy and Stave, an abundance of historical articles confirm that the Salas Brothers, Rudy and Steve, founded TIERRA.
Click here for more information about the Salas Brothers.