The Iron Warriors Motorcycle Club (IWMC), first named the Wild Pigs Motorcycle Club (WPMC), began in 1987 in the San Jose, California area, by police officers who owned Harley Davidson motorcycles, and who loved to ride with like-minded people. The WPMC offered membership to active and retired law enforcement officers and firefighters. The Iron Warriors continues this tradition of membership to active and retired public safety professionals, who own and ride V-twin motorcycles made by American-owned companies.
The Iron Warriors Motorcycle Club is a non-profit organization dedicated to providing assistance and support to our communities, departments, families and members. The IWMC membership contributes much of its free time toward the efforts of raising money to support the families of Fallen Police Officers and/or Firefighters. The IWMC additionally supports our Veterans of the military, regardless the branch they served, as they have sacrificed much, some all for us all to have our cherished FREEDOMS. The IWMC generosity is not limited to Law Enforcement, Firefighters or Veterans. Individual chapters will routinely seek out those struggles within their community, to show support and express their gratitude for the support given to them by our communities.
The transition from WPMC to IWMC
In 1991, when the WPMC was just three chapters in California and one in Connecticut, the San Jose chapter divided and was falling apart due to infighting and divisiveness on the part of a few individuals. A significant cause of the dissention was due to some members wanting to grow, while others feared growth and possibly losing total control of the club. At a time when some were trying to mend the rifts and develop club bylaws which would satisfy the needs of the club as a whole, two San Jose members, who labeled themselves “R & R Enterprises”, secretively filed a trademark application for the name and logo of the WPMC. This was done without the knowledge or approval of any chapter board in existence at the time. After some time had passed and the WPMC had grown, the actions of R&R Enterprises were finally recognized and the real threat it was. Legal action was filed on behalf of the WPMC with the Trademark Commission to try to prevent R&R from gaining trademark rights. The existing WPMC chapters and regional boards subsequently terminated the San Jose chapter’s charter and the chapter essentially ceased to exist.
The club won a court victory in California, preventing R&R Enterprises from incorporating as the WPMC, which they had also attempted illegally. The favorable California Superior Court decision, ruling R&R Enterprises incorporation as illegal, was forwarded to the U.S. Trademark Commission. The Trademark Commission after a lengthy delay, elected to award the trademark to R&R based on the “late” filing of the original complaint.
The Regional Boards upon learning the decision approached the membership with several options. One was to buy the trademark rights from R&R, this option was rejected after R&R disclosed they didn’t want to sell the trademark and in fact wanted to have complete and sole control of the club. Another option was to continue utilizing the Wild Pigs logo and disregard R&R all together, challenging them in court on a case by case bases. This was rejected due to potential court costs to the chapters and regions. The last option was to rename the club which involved several names and logos presented to the membership for a vote. This process took several months and unfortunately some members wanted to follow the name they had created, such as the “Renegade Pigs” in the east, others became frustrated with the process and the time it took, moving onto other clubs, but many stuck it out and the Iron Warriors name and logo was voted on and is now worn by 34 chapters in 18 States, with approximately 600+ members nationwide.
Additional information is located in our chapter’s membership package, available to interested, qualified public safety professionals.