IASG sues Few family's King Monitoring Group

GREENVILLE, S.C.--Integrated Alarm Services Group, which merged with Protection One in December of 2006, has filed a lawsuit claiming federal trademark infringement against the Few family's King Monitoring Group (KMG) in South Carolina District Court. Robert Few, who was named in the court docket as one of the Few family members previously employed by IASG and now employed by KMG, was unable to comment about the ongoing litigation. "I've been asked not to talk about this matter until it is settled," said Few. According to court documents, IASG filed the suit against KMG for federal trademark infringement, specifically the use of the name "King Monitoring." IASG maintains that it owns the trademark rights to "King Central," a wholesale alarm monitoring company acquired as part of the Criticom International purchase from founder, Tom Few, Sr. who died on July 19. "KMG and the Few family willfully and deliberately chose to name their new alarm monitoring business, which competes directly with IASG and its affiliates, and which has a longstanding association with the Few Family, as King Monitoring," the complaint states. Attorneys for both IASG and KMG did not return calls this week for comment on the case. Both sides had filed several motions as of Sept. 19. The initial suit was filed July 26. KMG was scheduled to open its monitoring station on July 15 (search "Few Family Starts Anew" at www.securitysystemsnews.com). Few was unable to comment on the status of KMG's operations. IASG, the parent company of Criticom, merged with Protection One and integrated Criticom into its existing monitoring arm, called. CMS. CMS declined comment. "As this case is in litigation, it would be inappropriate for us to comment on it at this time," said Robin Lampe, vice president of corporate communications for CMS. For more on this story, see the November issue of Security Systems News.