In recent years, the Catholicate of the West has been compelled to take steps to avoid the misrepresentations of other individuals and bodies falsely claiming to be or to exercise authority over the Catholicate.

The principal false and baseless such claim, accompanied by abuse and threats, has been made by one Demetrius Brown and is the subject of a Notice here.

In order to bring this matter to a conclusion, the Catholicate, acting via the religious corporation sole of the Apostolic Episcopal Church in Hawaii with which church it has been in formal union since 1977, has made application to the United States Patent and Trademark Office in order to determine that the Catholicate alone is the rightful owner of its service mark, consisting of its name “The Catholicate of the West”.

On August 4 2026 following due process, the USPTO determined that the AEC corporation sole should be registered as the owner of its federal service mark with effect from June 2 2015. As a result, THE CATHOLICATE OF THE WEST® is now a registered federal service mark of The Primate and Presiding Bishop of the Apostolic Episcopal Church, A Corporation Sole, Hawaii.

The mark has been awarded in Class 45, and specifically covers the following activities: Organization of religious meetings; Conducting religious sermons; Providing information on religious lifestyles via a website; Provision of a web site featuring information on religious lifestyles; Providing a website featuring information about religious belief systems; Religious ministerial counseling; Providing information about religion; Providing a web site featuring information about religion; Conducting religious ceremonies; Conducting religious ceremonies for marriages, baptisms, and funerals; Providing specialized facilities for religious ceremonies; Conducting Christian religious ceremonies. It thus covers the full range of the activities of the Catholicate in its work as a religious denomination and its websites. The service mark consists of the phrase THE CATHOLICATE OF THE WEST® without distinction of font, size or color.

 

The registration process included a notification period during which any other party with a legal claim to the service mark had the opportunity to object to the registration, if it could demonstrate valid legal grounds to do so. No other party objected. This serves as proof, should the same be required, that the other parties who have been using the service mark THE CATHOLICATE OF THE WEST® have done so without any legal justification.

Notice is therefore given to any person or body that is infringing upon the rights of the service mark THE CATHOLICATE OF THE WEST®, a registered service mark of The Primate and Presiding Bishop of the Apostolic Episcopal Church, A Corporation Sole, Hawaii, to cease and desist immediately from the unauthorized use and violation of the service mark THE CATHOLICATE OF THE WEST®. If wilful infringement of our service mark persists, all reasonable measures including legal action will be taken in order to stop it.