Legal Statement

Legal Statement and Disclaimer

The American Colonels Network, also called Honorary Colonels Network or Colony of Colonial Colonels was developed in response to a civil complaint filed in federal court by the Honorable Order of Kentucky Colonels which targeted Col. David J. Wright with his endeavor to further develop Kentucky Colonels International, which began in 1998 for Kentucky colonels to develop an affinity with the honorary title of Kentucky Colonel as goodwill ambassadors through the development of a fraternal membership association and an online member registry.

The U.S. District Court ordered Kentucky Colonels International (also known as Kentucky Colonel Foundation) not to be used in the public sector on August 13, 2020, because people may confuse the registered trademarks "KENTUCKY COLONELS ®" and "HONORABLE ORDER OF KENTUCKY COLONELS ®" with these descriptive (almost generic) trade names in the social media or on the Internet, prohibiting their use. On February 23, 2021 a final order was entered dismissing the case based on an Agreed Permanent Injunction sanctifying "KENTUCKY COLONELS ®" disambiguating it from the Title and Name - "Kentucky Colonel".

As a result of the Court Order resulting in a Preliminary Injunction our name has been changed and our efforts have been diversified to become American Colonels Network, the Commonwealth Colonels and the Most Honorable Order of the Transylvania Colonel, all of which offer a different history and timeline than the Honorable Order of Kentucky Colonels offers as their propaganda since 1933, to further eliminate any confusion we began using "Kentucky Colonel™" which is the proper common-law designation for a trademark or a proprietary title. We believe our history offers a more credible version of the origins and history of Kentucky Colonelcy because it comprehensively acknowledges other organizations and accounts for actual historical events dating back to 1651 when Governor Sir William Berkeley of the Virginia Company issued the first letters patent to Colonel Richard Lee I.

The new initiative believes Kentucky Colonelcy itself actually began in 1775 under Transylvania Company Pioneers and the first Kentucky Colonel commissioned was actually a Commonwealth if Virginia Colonel in 1776 designated to Kentucky County.