Who owns ‘grommets’? San Diego author says comics giant infringed his 2008 trademark

Surfers and skaters across San Diego and beyond have a name for the young and inexperienced among them: grommets.

The term, along with its sidekicks “grom” and “gremmie,” dates back several generations — a nod to the teenagers who perennially emerge in the world of extreme sports and prove they’re still be learning the crafts and culture.

To Mark-Robert Bluemel, a San Diego attorney who grew up in the surfing community, grommets are earnest and helpful, loyal and wholesome.

When not practicing law, Bluemel wrote a series of books called “The Grommets.” The books center on three boys named Buzz, Oz and Jimbo whose surf adventures and mysteries lead to teachable moments and practical life lessons.

Bluemel trademarked his series title in 2008, following the publication a year earlier of his first book, “The Grommets: The Secret of Turtle Cave.”

He produced a follow-up book, “The Grommets: Big Island Justice,” in 2013 and he expects to publish the third installment, “The Grommets: Toxic Tides,” in the next several months.

But the San Diego surfer and lawyer recently discovered that last year a major publisher began distributing a graphic-novel series by Richard Remender and others with nearly the same name.

The series from Image Comics, called simply “Grommets,” features two best friends and outcasts who are far different from Bluemel’s heroes. Now he’s embroiled in a legal dispute over the term that spans two federal courts.