Buck Rogers: 2000 - Now!

The Question Answered, Who Actually Owns Buck Rogers?

Jul 10, 2025

The world rang in the year 2000 with great aplomb. With the end of the 20^th century and the beginning of the 21^st, it seemed that science fiction would soon become fact. People often commented that this was the time for all the Buck Rogers tropes to come to life – jet packs, ray guns, space ships, space travel, flying cars – even if it wasn’t part of the lexicon, it was accepted as such.

On the ownership side of things, the Nowlan family noticed something important. As the year 2000 unfolded, they noticed that the Dille Family Trust had failed to renew the Buck Rogers trademarks. They were also gearing up to file termination notices for the copyrights to early strips and stories. The Dille Family appeared oblivious to this activity, but they soon woke up when hit with a double whammy.

On 5 April 2001, the Dille Family Trust applied for a new Buck Rogers trademark. For them, it was business as usual. What they didn’t anticipate was on 29 October 2001, the Nowlan family filed notices of copyright termination for Buck Rogers 25th Century A.D. newspaper strips numbered 1303 to 1578. Included in the termination notices were the Dille Family Trust, Universal City Studios, Inc, Random House, Inc, Western Publishing Company, Inc, Wizards of the Coast, Inc and Hasbro, Inc.

It would be the first shot in the fight for control of the Buck Rogers name and works.

The Nowlan family followed up the termination notices with more. On 29 March 2003 they filed for strips 1 to 330, 1 to 204, 205 to 420, 553 to 654 and 1303 to 1578. On 26 April 2004 they filed terminations for Buck Rogers in the Interplanetary War with Venus (Better Little Book 1437). The fight was now well on.

On 1 August 2004, acting on legal advice, Brian McDevitt created the Nowlan Family Trust in Pennsylvania. His sister, Diane McDevitt, was appointed the agent for the trust. The Nowlan Family Trust Agreement identified as permissible beneficiaries the descendants of Philip Francis Nowlan, as determined when the net assets of the trust exceed $1 million (both the McDevitts are grandchildren of Philip F. Nowlan). The now high profile of the Nowlans in the Buck Rogers sphere was beginning to pay dividends when Penny Publications assigned the copyright for Space Guards (Astounding Fiction vol 25, no 3) to Nowlan Family Trust on 16 August 2005. On the same day the Nowlan Family Trust filed their next terminations, this time for the copyright for nineteen Buck Rogers works.

With all of this action, Flint Dille began to take a more active role in the Dille Family Trust with the assent of mother, Virginia Dille. As Lorraine Dille Williams would tell the court, ‘But I mean this was, mom’s feeling was, it was how families take care of, you know, sort of take care of the next generation. They give them a chance to spread their wings and this was mom’s feeling. It was time for Flint to have his chance. You know, I’m not - - I’ve been out there, I’m mean, I’m tough. I know my weaknesses and strengths, and it is hard to be a little brother to a big sister like me. So, this was a great opportunity for mom to give my brother, who is equally strong and impressive as a person, his reigns.’[1]

The Dille Family Trust then began to issue license agreements. Dynamic Forces got the license to produce comic books. Go Hero, LLC got the license to produce a Buck Rogers gun. And, on 16 March 2008, Herman and Geer Communications d/b/a Hermes Press got the license to reprint the original newspaper strips in a format that mirrored what DC Comics had been doing with the Superman newspaper strips. This marked the beginning of the involvement of Louise A. Geer and Daniel Herman with the Dille Family Trust and Buck Rogers. It would have repercussions in the future, but, for now, Buck Rogers was firmly in the hands of the Dille Family Trust and under the control of Virginia and Flint Dille.

The first shot for ownership of Buck Rogers was fired on 15 January 2009. On this date, the Nowlan Family Trust filed to register the Buck Rogers trademark with the United States Trademark office.

On 17 February 2009 Virginia Dille passed away. The Dille Family Trust now fell under the control of Lorraine Dille Williams and Flint Dille. Flint Dille had been acting as the manager of the Trust since 2007, with Lorraine Dille Williams taking a back seat. Lorraine Dille Williams would testify (in a deposition) that upon the death of her mother, her (Lorraine’s) involvement in the Trust ceased and that co-trustee, Arthur Martin, made it clear he wanted her to retire. It was made clear to her that she was ‘out’ and Flint Dille now had total control over the Trust.

It would be claimed in court that Flint Dillie had, on more than one occasion, claimed that he owned Buck Rogers, and had, from time to time, deposited money received from licensing agreements into his personal checking account.

The difference between the siblings would be explained by Lorraine Dille Williams as simply being a case of her being a business woman and Flint Dille being a creative. ‘I’m a business person’, she would tell the court. ‘I’m very methodical. I, you know, I see a process for doing stuff. Flint is a creative person. He has absolutely no sense of business. He doesn’t understand, you know, how things are done, and we locked horns over it periodically. Didn’t want to spend the money for the attorney to do the maintenance and all that. That’s money you have to spend. And you know, I mean, it’s a business versus a creative person.’

She would also state that Flint Dille was lax when it came to maintaining the trademarks that the Trust owned. ‘He didn’t think it was, it always, his whole life had been maintained by someone else. It’s not that - - he didn’t know. He didn’t know about it, and it was my job to educate him.’[2] This attitude would come back to haunt the Trust as trademarks lapsed.

In February the Nowlan Family Trust claimed Nicky Barrucci, then working for Dynamic Forces, sent what they call ‘an intimidating letter’ regarding their trademark registration. The Nowlans responded via their lawyer and no more was heard. The Nowlans also contacted Daniel Herman and made assertions concerning their rights.

On 21 September 2009 the Dille Family Trust filed for two new trademark registrations and issued a license on 5 October to Retro-A-Go-Go for belt buckles and other items.

It all came to a head on 26 October 2009 when the Nowlan Family Trust filed a petition for cancellation of for Dille Family Trust’s name/mark Buck Rogers numbers 714814 and 1555871, thus launching the first in a series of trademark and civil cases, with trademark case 92051659, Nowlan Family Trust v. The Dille Family Trust.

The case revolved around the Nowlans application, registration number 77650082 The Nowlan Trust intended to use the name Buck Rogers with the new registration number for a motion picture films, printed matter (including comic books), posters and action figures. The Nowlans also wanted trademarks for newspaper comic strips and boardgames owned by the Dille Family Trust cancelled.

The Nowlans alleged the Dille Family Trust falsely filed for renewal of their trademarks in 2001. The Nowlan Family Trust then alleged the following.

Upon information and belief, Registrant maintained Registration No. 714,184 by false means and/or by knowingly and willfully making false and/or fraudulent declarations or representations to the United States Patent and Trademark Office, including, inter alia, falsely alleging that the marks in Registration No. 714,184 is still in use, when, on information and belief, Registrant had not used the mark on or in connection with each of those goods since before 1999.

As such, Nowlan Family Trust claimed it was damaged by the continuation of a trademark they believed was false.

The main problem came when the Dille Family Trust held back from delivering discovery documents for nearly a full year. The Trademark Trial and Appeal Board (TTAB) took briefing and held a hearing, after which it denied Dille Family Trust’s opposition to Nowlan Family Trust’s registration of the Buck Rogers mark. The Trademark Trial and Appeal Board found that Dille Family Trust had failed to prove that the Trust (as opposed to now-deceased members of the Dille family) had used the Buck Rogers mark before the filing of Nowlan Family Trust’s application in January 2009.

Despite being ordered to file relevant documents with the TTAB, the Dille Family Trust held back. On 2 June 2010 their legal team, Fross Zelnick Lehrman & Zissu, P.C, withdrew from the case citing a lack of communication/instructions which made it unreasonably difficult for the firm to act effectively and unpaid bills. After a back and forth with Dille Family Trust, they sent all the relevant paperwork back to the Dille Family Trust and withdrew from representing the Trust on 1 June.

2010 was spent arguing over documents and with the Dille Family Trust issuing more licenses. Creations Fantastic, Inc, Squidjuice, Mulligan Pictorial and Drizzle Studios all landed exclusive rights. On 17 November 2010, a deal was signed to identify Gil Gerard and use his likeness and image as Buck Rogers for commercial advertising & product endorsement (Gerard played the title role in the Buck Rogers television series).

2011 dawned with the news that, on 24 January, the Dille Family Trust voluntarily surrendered both Buck Rogers registrations currently in dispute. On 1 February, the trademark registrations for Buck Rogers numbers 714814 and 1555871 were cancelled. The case would be closed on 5 April 2011.

This did not mean that the Nowlans owned Buck Rogers. This was just the opening salvo in a long war.

Things were now happening at a rapid rate of knots. On 8 March Dille Family Trust trustee Arthur Martin resigned from his role. The Dilles continued to issue licenses for the rights to Buck Rogers. On 4 May, co-trustee Dennis W. Fox resigns as successor trustee of Dille Family Trust. The RBC Trust Company was approached but declined to act as successor Trustee for the Dille Family Trust on 19 May. The Trust was looking for a new trustee but didn’t have to look far.

Louise A. Geer was appointed as successor trustee to Dille Family Trust on 6 June 2011. The appointment takes effect on 1 July 2011. Geer, and Herman, had been informally and formally advising the Trust since 2009.

On the surface, this was legal. It wasn’t. In a Superior Court memorandum, dated 19 September 2023, it would be determined that the only way this could happen, under Californian law, was via court order. As the court would later report.

(The) California Probate Code required court approval for appointment of a non-corporate Trustee. Beyond the naming of specific successor Trustees and allowing for the appointment of a corporate Trustee, there were no provisions in the Trust document or its 1982 Amendment setting forth any other method of appointment of a Trustee. At the time of the June 6, 2011 purported appointment of [Ms.] Geer, Illinois law permitted the appointment of a Trustee by a majority in interest of the Beneficiaries. As of June 6, 2011, in the case of a vacancy, California law only allowed the appointment of a Trustee by court order.
As of June 6, 2011, the [Dille Family Trust]’s United States Trademarks for Buck Rogers had expired, but the [Dille Family Trust] still maintained Canadian, German[,] and some other trademark rights, and the [Nowlan Family Trust] had applied for the U.S. Trademark Rights to Buck Rogers. The [Dille Family Trust] had very little income and owed approximately $42,000.00 in attorney[s’] fees to a law firm for work that had been done for the Trust prior to June 6, 2011. This court is not making any findings of fact or rulings as to the validity or ownership of any trademark or intellectual property.
Holding herself out as Trustee, with the knowledge, consent and acquiescence of [the Beneficiaries], [Ms.] Geer contested the [Nowlan Family Trust]’s attempt to acquire the U.S. Trademark Rights to Buck Rogers. The contest included litigation. The litigation was financed by the [Dille Family Trust] and Lorraine. The litigation costs to contest the [Nowlan Family Trust]’s claims to the U.S. Trademark Rights for Buck Rogers far exceeded the meagre income of the [Dille Family Trust].

Geer did not advise Plaintiff Beneficiaries to seek advice from separate counsel before signing the document.

Geer then opened a bank account for the Trust in Pennsylvania. The Dille Family Trust entered into agreements with the following for merchandising, licenses and distribution. All companies are based in the USA unless stated.

At first, the appointment was welcomed by all. Lorraine Dillie Williams would tell the court, ‘…so basically it is not a Trust that had a ton of assets that would interest a bank or a traditional national management company so we looked around to find somebody who could manage this kind of Trust, which is you know, a different animal. And my brother identified Louise Geer as a person who could do it, understand the property, understand the kinds of activities of the Trust, and who we thought was a great person. Louise did a lot of just clean up stuff.’[3]

Lorraine would make it clear that Hermes Press did pay royalties to the Trust for their reprints of Buck Rogers.

On 14 June 2011 the Nowlan Family Trust applied for the Buck Rogers trademark for a wide range of products, including motion pictures, CD ROM games, audio tapes, clothing and more. On the same day, the Dille Family Trust, via Louise A. Geer, filed a timely Notice of Opposition in trademark case 92051659. Geer thereafter submitted her testimony as purported Trustee of the Dille Family Trust to the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board in its opposition to the Nowlan Family Trust trademark registration. Daniel Herman and Vincent LoTempio, of the Defendant law firm KSL, represented the Dille Family Trust in this action.

The next trademark case was filed on 12 July 2001 when the Dille Family Trust filed a Notice of Opposition against the Nowlan Family Trust for the mark, Buck Rogers. This was essentially the defense that should have been filed to the first trademark case which had now been closed off. The Dille Family Trust noted that they lawfully held several trademarks for Buck Rogers, including districts outside of the United States.

The Nowlan Family Trust pointed out that the two trademarks held by the Dille Family Trust (714184 and 1555871) had previously been cancelled.

The Dille Family Trust then issued more licenses, with eight in total (known) being issued from 9 August 2011 to 23 September 2013.

The next big bomb came in 2015. For years the Dilles had been trying to get a new film off the ground. Enter producer Don Murphy. Murphy had form with comic book movies, having co-produced From Hell, which was adapted from the Alan Moore series of the same name. Murphy was keen to make a movie from Nowlans original novella, Armageddon 2419A.D. Even though the novella was in the public domain, he was shot down at the start by Geer and Herman, acting for the Dille Family Trust, claiming the Dille Family Trust owned Buck Rogers (and, by association, the original novella). The twist in this case came in the form of the person Murphy had hired to write the script – Flint Dille.

After going back and forth, and getting absolutely nowhere, Murphy filed suit against Louise A. Geer, as Trustee of the Dille Family Trust, on 4 August 2015.

The case was built on a claim of wrongful claim of ownership. Murphy argued that the Dille Family Trust did not own the rights to the original novella, nor the characters portrayed within the pages, as the book had fallen into the public domain. Murphy also alleged that, upo0n contacting the Dille Family Trust to license Buck Rogers, not only was he refused permission but Louise Geer,

…in her capacity as Trustee of the Dille Family Trust threatened in writing ‘to proceed with [contemplated] legal action,’ also asserting in writing that ‘the Dille Family Trust has not given permission or license for the use of ‘Buck Rogers’ or any of the elements of the ‘Buck Rogers’ Universe to Flint or to Don Murphy.’

It was almost farcical. The Dille Family Trust, of which Flint Dille was a beneficiary, was refusing to allow Flint Dille to make a movie of it’s major asset.

Murphy (correctly) believed that the original novella fell into public domain in 1956 for thew USA and 2010 worldwide. Murphy then began developing the film, announcing at the San Diego Comicon in 2015. The announcement included the statements that Flint Dille had been engaged to write the screenplay with Ed Neumair, and a special effects supervisor had been hire. This was picked up and reported by Deadline Hollywood on 10 July 2015.

Right there and then it all hit the fan. Murphy would claim Daniel Herman phoned him the same day as the article appeared and threatened legal action. The threat, as relayed to the court by Murphy, saw Herman, ‘threatening to sue Don Murphy, president of Team Angry Filmworks, Inc and its affiliates in connection with the Armageddon 2419 A.D. project in ‘every court in the land.’ Herman also told Murphy that he was at the San Diego Comicon but would be leaving the convention early ‘to sue them’.

Herman, and the Dille Family Trusts’ licensing representative Jane MacGregor, then contacted Flint Dilles lawyer, Richard Thompson, and ‘emphatically instructed them and Team Angry Filmworks, Inc as well to cease and desist from developing the motion picture project based upon Philip Nowlans novella entitled Armageddon 2419 A.D. along with similar threats to sue if such demands were not complied with.’

Calling Murphy again, Herman, as Murphy would claim later in court,

…asserted that The Dille Family Trust had not given Team Angry Filmworks, Inc. or anyone affiliated with it permission to license or use any elements under the Buck Rogers Universe, including Mr. Dille, and that the copyright in Armageddon 2419 A.D. was owned by The Dille Family Trust. Mr. Herman concluded this call by indicating that unless the demand to ‘cease and desist’ was complied with, immediate legal action seeking injunctive relief under copyright and trademark would be initiated against Team Angry Filmworks, Inc.’s (commonly known as ‘Angry Films’) president Don Murphy, and their affiliates, including Mr. Dille.’

These claims were denied by both Herman and Geer.

On 28 July 2015 Louise Geer sent Richard Thompson a letter. Geer asserted that the Dille Family Trust had not given permission or license for the use of Buck Rogers or any of the elements of the Buck Rogers Universe to Mr. Dille or to Team Angry Filmworks, Inc. The letter also accused Mr. Dille of acting to damage the interests of the Dille Family Trust and the interests of my co-beneficiaries, asserting that he may be liable to the Trust and other beneficiaries for any damages caused, and threatening to proceed with legal action if a satisfactory response was not received within ten days.

In short, Flint Dille was being threatened with legal action not to work on a character that he legally owned.

Both Lorraine Williams and Flint Dille would claim that they were told were multiple times years ago by Robert Dille that he allowed Armageddon 2419 to lapse in the public domain for strategic reasons, due to an ongoing dispute with the heirs of the author Mr. Nowlan. The fact that the original novella had never been registered for copyright protection was enough for it to become public domain. The only version of the novella protected by copyright was the revised, re-edited version from 1962.

This confused everyone, as the court would state, ‘both Lorraine Dille and Louise Geer are fully aware that that the original novella including the character of Anthony Rogers a/k/a Buck Rogers has entered the public domain but nonetheless appear intent on litigating a meritless claim.’

Trying to resolve the issue, on 30 July 2015 Murphy phoned Herman and Geer after previously speaking with Geer. Murphy would tell the court that Geer was ‘oddly abusive and threatening and concluded her conversation with him while he was in California by hanging up on him. Prior to hanging up, Ms. Geer made it clear that that The Dille Family Trust had not given Mr. Murphy, or anyone affiliated with him permission to license or use any elements under the Buck Rogers Universe, including Flint Dille, and that the copyright in Armageddon 2419 A.D. was owned by The Dille Family Trust.’ Murphy would also tell the court that Herman repeatedly used profanity and that a case would soon be filed in Pennsylvania. This, Herman is alleged to have said, would tie Murphy up in litigation for years.

Herman, now acting more like the trustee of the Dille Family Trust than the lawyer for the trustee, sent a series of three letters on 4 and 4 August. The first was a cease-and-desist letter to Murphy. This was followed up by a second letter, sent the same day, which ‘accused Mr. Murphy of numerous wrongdoings and again threatened that the Dille Family Trust may ‘seek all remedies at law in the appropriate forum to permanently restrain [his] conduct and additionally seek damages against [him] personally for interference with the business affairs’ of the Trust.’. A third letter, again from Herman was largely abusive and again threatened legal action.

As a result of this behavior, Flint Dille rescinded his conflict-of-interest waiver with Geer and Herman and requested Geer’s resignation from the Dille Family Trust. This was ignored. Instead, Geer responded by filing a Writ of Summons, dated 31 August 2015, against Dille on an unspecified claim in a Pennsylvania court.

Murphy wanted the court to determine that the novella was indeed in the public domain, that the Dille Family Trust and their agents cease interfering with the exploitation of the story and the usual fees and costs.

He didn’t win. The case was moved from California, where Murphy was based, to Pennsylvania, where the Dille Family Trust was now located, and the case dismissed.

It was too much for Flint Dilles lawyer, Richard Thompson, who resigned via email on 5 August 2015.

When Don Murphy announced his plans for a movie based on Armageddon 2419 at Comic-Con, I had hoped that it would be a flash in the pan that would be quickly resolved, but it looks now like that may not be the case and that there is now a direct conflict of interest between Flint and the trust. Under these circumstances, I believe that I need to resign from further representation of any of the parties in connection with Buck Rogers or Armageddon 2419. Accordingly, please accept this e-mail as my notice of resignation.[4]

2015 was proving to be the most active year for Buck Rogers in decades, but for all the wrong reasons.

On 25 September 2015, the Trademark Board found in favor of the Nowlan Family Trust. The Board find the Dille Family Trust has not established proprietary rights in the Buck Rogers mark prior to the application date by the Nowlan Family Trust on 15 January 2015. The Board also found that the Dille Family Trust cannot demonstrate that the Buck Rogers mark was famous prior to the application date. In summary,

Inasmuch as Opposer cannot demonstrate its proprietary interest in the asserted mark prior to Applicant’s filing date, as demonstrated above, Opposer cannot make the necessary showing of fame as of an appropriate time, and its claim of dilution must fail. Decision: The opposition is dismissed as to both asserted grounds, Trademark Act Sections 2(d) and 43(c).

The Dille Family Trust were losing more fights than they were winning. But they kept fighting.

On 19 November 2015 Louise Geer filed an action on behalf of the Dille Family Trust challenging the Trademark Board decision in case 91200643 rejecting the Dille Family Trust’s opposition to the Nowlan Family Trust’s trademark application. The complaint further alleged various counts of unfair competition and trademark infringement with respect to Nowlan Family Trust’s use of the Buck Rogers intellectual property.

A new party was then brought into the battle. On 8 December 2015 a Notice of Opposition by the Dille Family Trust is filed. This time it was against a company named Armageddon, LLC, which operated out of the same building as the Buck Rogers Company. As with the previous case, this involved the opposition of a trademark application for the name Buck Rogers for motion pictures. The reason for this application would soon become clear.

Armageddon, LLC was one of two companies that had been formed by the Nowlan family, the other being Buck Rogers, LLC. Both companies would be part of litigation to come. .

On 22 June 2016 the Nowlan Family Trust filed new trademark oppositions, this time for Black Barney, Dr, Huer, Wilma Deering and Killer Kane. Unlike previous trademark oppositions, this time they would not be successful.

While the fight for the trademarks and copyrights raged, all was not well within the Dille camp. It was increasingly obvious that the Dille family was at odds with Louise A. Geer, acting as the co-trustee of the Dille Family Trust. It came to a head on 28 November 2017.

While the Dille Family Trust/Nowlan Family Trust Litigation was on-going, Geer authorized the filing of a voluntary petition for Chapter 11 Bankruptcy, without notice to or approval from Plaintiffs as Beneficiaries of the Dille Family Trust. The claim was that the Trust was financially distressed and unable to operate. This set off a series of events that would see the Dille family finally lose control over Buck Rogers.

Lorraine Dille Williams claimed that the Dille Family Trust need not have been financially distressed as she had lent more than $300,000 to the trust, at the behest of Geer, prior to the filing of the bankruptcy petition. These funds should have been sufficient to satisfy Dille Family Trust’s creditors’ claims. Instead, Geer transferred these funds to her law firm, Defendant Geer and Herman, P.C., without an invoice or disclosure to the Plaintiff Beneficiaries.

The Bankruptcy Court appointed a Chapter 11 trustee to displace Geer on 25 July 2018, after her ‘contumacious failure to respond to discovery requests.’

On 26 August 2018 Lorraine Dille Williams and Flint Dille give Louise Geer written notice that she is to be removed as trustee for the Dille Family Trust. Williams would later state in an affidavit that, ‘Despite the notice given, Ms. Geer continued to purport to act on behalf of the Dille Family Trust.’[5]

Geer’s husband, Daniel Herman, appeared in the Chapter 11 case. He entered his appearance on behalf of KSL and Geer as creditors of the Dille Family Trust on 22 October 2018. Herman, on behalf of Geer, proposed and duly filed a Chapter 11 plan through which Geer would take ownership of the Dille Family Trust assets and remove them from the control of the Dille family. The Geer plan represented the value of the Dille Family Trust assets at $1.22 million, but claimed bankruptcy was needed due to anticipated litigation cost of $500,000 to $750,000. The Geer plan anticipated paying $1,014,285.27 in claims within one year.

Meanwhile the trademark litigation continued. On 15 November 2018, in the Dille Family Trust/Nowlan Family Trust litigation, Herman informed the Court that “there exists a conflict of interests” due to his status as a creditor of the Dille Family Trust, and that “it is absolutely impossible, pursuant to the Rule of Professional Responsibility,” for him or for his law firm, Geer and Herman, P.C., to be involved in the Dille Family Trust/Nowlan Family Trust Litigation. About a week later, Justin Kloss - a partner in KSL - withdrew his appearance, as well as that of his partner, Vincent LoTempio, and their law firm from the Dille Family Trust/Nowlan Family Trust Litigation because the firm “has a significant monetary claim against the [Dille Family Trust] for unpaid costs of representation,” which “creates a conflict of interest, of which it would be impossible to resolve while still remaining as counsel.”

Geer and Nowlan Family Trust then teamed up and sought to purchase the Dille Family Trust’s assets in the Chapter 11 case on 2 December 2018. Geer and Nowlan Family Trust offered $500,000 cash as consideration. The Dille family objected and proclaimed their opposition to the Nowlan Family Trust-Geer plan. The Bankruptcy Court never weighed in on the plan, however, because it granted the Dilles Emergency Motion to Dismiss the case on February 20, 2019. The Bankruptcy Court (Judge Deller) concluded that the Dille Family Trust was not a business trust but an ordinary estate planning trust and therefore ineligible to file for bankruptcy

On December 11, 2018, the Dille family filed an expedited motion in Bankruptcy Court to dismiss the bankruptcy case as improperly filed. The Nowlan Family Trust and Geer filed objections to the motion.

The Bankruptcy Court (Judge Deller) granted the Dille family’s Emergency Motion to Dismiss the Chapter 11 case on February 20, 2019, concluding that the Dille Family Trust was not a business trust and therefore not eligible to file for bankruptcy. The court also stated that,

[Ms.] Geer purporting to act as Trustee of the [Dille Family Trust], filed Chapter 11 Bankruptcy on behalf of the [Dille Family Trust]. [Ms.] Geer purposefully did not seek the permission of [the Beneficiaries] prior to filing the bankruptcy. [Ms.] Geer did not notify either Beneficiary that she had filed the bankruptcy action on behalf of the [Dille Family Trust]. Lorraine … and Robert … only learned of the Chapter 11 filing when Lorraine…, as a creditor, received notice from the Bankruptcy Court that she was a listed creditor in the bankruptcy action filed by [Ms.] Geer on behalf of the [Dille Family Trust].

It wasn’t the end of litigation though. About one week before the Dille Family Trust/Nowlan Family Trust settlement, Geer, represented by Herman and HG, filed for a declaratory judgment in the Orphans’ Court Division of the Court of Common Pleas of Lawrence County, Pennsylvania. The complaint sought a declaration that the Plaintiff Beneficiaries owed fiduciary duty to the Dille Family Trust and therefore could not continue to undermine the intellectual property rights in Buck Rogers that were an asset of the Dille Family Trust. The Plaintiff Beneficiaries, as the defendants in this action, removed to the Western District of Pennsylvania and moved for sanctions against Herman, as counsel to Geer.

The week between the dismissal of the Chapter 11 case on February 20 and the settlement of the Dille Family Trust/Nowlan Family Trust Litigation on February 28 was eventful to say the least. The same day that the Chapter 11 case was dismissed, Geer, Herman, and Geer and Herman, P.C. filed a complaint seeking declaratory judgment in the Orphans’ Court Division of the Court of Common Pleas of Lawrence County, Pennsylvania.5 The Plaintiff Beneficiaries were determined to cut ties with Geer. In compliance with the trust agreement, which provides them the unfettered right to remove their respective shares in the trust property once they reach the age of thirty-five, Plaintiff Beneficiaries gave written notice that they were removing the entirety of the trust property on February 20, 2019. Because the Plaintiffs Beneficiaries’ interests comprise 100% of the Dille Family Trust property, they allege that the Dille Family Trust was left with no assets after this date.

Williams and Dille then moved to formally remove Geer from the Trust. On 22 February 2019 the Dille Family Trust issued a second written notice to Geer of her removal as trustee. On a telephone call three days later, they again informed Geer that she had been unanimously removed as Trustee of the Dille Family Trust.

But it still wasn’t finished. The next day, 26 February 2019, the Dille Family Trust/Nowlan Family Trust Litigation was on the verge of settlement. Herman sponsored the pro hac vice admission of Defendant David Kloss of KSL in the Dille Family Trust/Nowlan Family Trust Litigation. Herman did not raise at this time that he had previously informed the Court of his irresolvable conflict of interest with the Dille Family Trust, nor that another KSL partner (Justin Kloss) had likewise represented that KSL had an impossible to resolve conflict.

Two days later (28 February 2019), the Nowlan connected company, the Buck Rogers Company, LLC, drew up an agreement to pay Diane McDevitt $300,000 if a Buck Rogers film is made. Signing the agreement in behalf of the Buck Rogers Company is Brian McDevitt. The Dille Family Trust began to assign all its copyrights to the Buck Rogers Company.

The next day (1 March 2019), the Dille Family Trust assigned the entire interest and goodwill to the Buck Rogers Company, LLC for the marks Buck Rogers, Buck Rogers in the 25^th Century, Black Barney, Dr. Huer, Wilma Deering and Killer Kane. Despite being removed as the trustee of the Dille Family Trust, the assignment was signed by Louise Geer on behalf of the Dille Family Trust. The Dille Family Trust told the United States Patent and Trademark Office that Geer was not authorized to sign the assignment and the assignment must be deemed without force or effect.

On 4 April 2019 the Beneficiaries of the Dille Family Trust filed an ex parte petition in the Superior Court of California, County of Los Angeles seeking

an order of court confirming that Geer was not properly appointed Trustee and had no authority to act as such; confirming that the Beneficiaries removed the Trust assets on February 20, 2019; ordering that Geer cease purporting to act as Trustee; appointing the Beneficiaries as Co-Trustees of the Trust; and compelling Geer to immediately surrender all Trust property and records. Geer contested the ex parte petition by specially appearing and filing a motion to dismiss for lack of jurisdiction and improper venue.[6]

On 12 April 2019 Geer voluntarily dismissed the suit. On 17 April Geer, through her attorney Sneath, filed a second declaratory judgment action in Orphans’ Court. Plaintiff Beneficiaries alleged that this lawsuit is to be the vehicle to distribute funds from the previous settlement of the Dille Family Trust/Nowlan Family Trust Litigation and to thereafter dissolve the Dille Family Trust.

Trademarks and copyrights were still changing hands. On 13 June 2019 the Buck Rogers Company assigned the entire interest and goodwill to Diane McDevitt for the marks Buck Rogers, Buck Rogers in the 25^th Century, Black Barney, Dr. Huer, Wilma Deering and Killer Kane. The assignment was signed by Brian McDevitt on behalf of the Buck Rogers Company. The execution date for this assignment is 28 February 2019, one day before the above assignment is signed and filed.

The next month, on 26 July 2019, Lorraine Dille Williams and Flint Dille assigned the entire interest and goodwill to the Dille Family Trust for the marks Buck Rogers, Buck Rogers in the 25^th Century, Black Barney, Dr. Huer, Wilma Deering and Killer Kane. This assignment included 101 copyrights in total.

The Nowlan Family Trust now owned Buck Rogers. The litigation continued.

At a conference held at the parties’ request on 28 September 2019, the Court was informed that the dispute between Dilles and Nowlans had been settled. Kloss appeared on behalf of the Dille Family Trust and defendant John O’Malley represented the Nowlan Family Trust. Louise Geer did not attend the conference, but she executed the settlement agreement and related asset purchase agreement as purported Trustee of the Dille Family Trust. At this conference, Kloss and O’Malley sought the Court’s approval of the settlement. As O’Malley explained: “We would like to get the order, I guess since there’s been so much back and forth we would like to put it on the record. It’s not a confidential settlement.” The Court declined to approve the settlement agreement, explaining that the parties should file a notice of dismissal pursuant to Federal Rule 41(a) and confirming that the notice should not include language suggesting the Court approved the agreement or retained jurisdiction over the suit post-dismissal.

Under the settlement agreement, the Dille Family Trust agreed to dismiss its suit against the Nowlan Family Trust, abandon its objections to Nowlan Family Trust’s trademark application, and assigned the right to bring any and all causes of action on behalf of the Dille Family Trust to Nowlan Family Trust, in exchange for $300,000. The settlement also included an exhaustive release of the Defendants and related parties to Nowlan Family Trust, but no similar release for the Plaintiffs as beneficiaries of the Dille Family Trust. Moreover, the agreement provided for indemnification from the Dille Family Trust for the Plaintiffs Beneficiaries’ claims against the Nowlan Family Trust, Defendants Mr. and Ms. McDevitt (Trustees of the Nowlan Family Trust), and the Nowlan Family Trust beneficiaries and their attorneys. On the other hand, the agreement rejects any indemnification of the Dille Family Trust by the Nowlan Family Trust. Finally, the agreement provided for the dissolution of the Dille Family Trust through a proceeding in Orphans’ Court. KSL took receipt of the proceeds from the settlement.

On 27 November 2019 Geer filed:

1) a Petition for Adjudication/Statement of Proposed Distribution; and
2) First and Partial Account, claiming to have lent $301,500 to the Dille Family Trust sometime after the Chapter 11 case was dismissed in February 2019.

Geer thus claimed to be owed more than the total settlement amount from the Dille Family Trust/Nowlan Family Trust Litigation.

The bad blood between the Dilles and Louise Geer came to a head on 18 February 2020 when the Dille Family Trust filed suit against Louise A. Geer, Daniel Herman, David Kloss, Brian McDevitt, Diane McDevitt, John O’Malley, Henry M. Sneath, Geer And Herman, P.C., Kloss Stenger & Lotempio, The Buck Rogers Company, The Nowlan Family Trust. The case attacked the previous settlement of the Dille Family Trust/Nowlan Family Trust Litigation for fraud upon the court, breach of fiduciary duty, constructive fraud, fraudulent conspiracy, negligence, and both conspiracy to commit and aiding and abetting the alleged torts.

Before all the defendants were served, the Dilles filed an Amended Complaint on June 16, 2020. The Amended Complaint alleged six counts against eleven defendants, primarily related to the various defendants’ involvement in litigating and settling the Dille Family Trust/Nowlan Family Trust Litigation before this Court and their actions to conceal the settlement from the Plaintiff Beneficiaries thereafter. Specifically, the Dilles alleged that:

1) Defendants Geer, Kloss, and O’Malley committed fraud upon the court by presenting the sham settlement agreement to this Court on February 28, 2019;
2) Defendants Geer, Herman, Kloss, Sneath, GH, and KSL breached a fiduciary duty owed to the Plaintiff Beneficiaries as counsel and/or fiduciaries acting on behalf of the Dille Family Trust;
3) Defendants Geer, Herman, Kloss, Sneath, GH, and KSL failed to disclose material information to the Plaintiff Beneficiaries and thereby engaged in constructive fraud or fraudulent concealment;
4) Defendants Geer, Herman, Kloss, Sneath, GH, and KSL acted negligently in failing to disclose material information as described above;
5) all the Defendants engaged in a conspiracy to breach a fiduciary duty owed to Plaintiff Beneficiaries and to commit constructive fraud/fraudulent concealment by entering the sham settlement agreement and thereafter concealing the terms; and,
6) Defendants Mr. and Ms. McDevitt, O’Malley, BRC, and Nowlan Family Trust aided and abetted the breach of fiduciary duty and constructive fraud/fraudulent concealment by knowingly participating and providing substantial assistance or encouragement in effectuating the above-mentioned acts.

The Dille Family Trust claimed that they incurred considerable monetary and non-monetary damages, including but not limited to lost opportunities, lost profits, reputational harm, and potential impairment of the value of Dille Family Trust assets, of at least $10 million, and attorneys’ fees and expenses. They asked the Court to:

1) vacate the March 4, 2019 order dismissing the Dille Family Trust/Nowlan Family Trust Litigation;

2) declare the Settlement Agreement and related agreements void ab initio for fraud upon the Court and because Dille Family Trust is not an appropriate party and Geer lacked authority to bind the Dille Family Trust;

3) grant monetary damages in the amount of $10 million, plus attorneys’ fees and costs;

4) grant further exemplary and punitive damages; and

5) other such relief as this Court deems just and appropriate.

On 22 December 2020 the court made the order that all claims against Daniel Herman, David Kloss, Brian and Diane McDevitt, John O’Malley, Henry Sneath, Geer and Herman, P.C., Kloss, Stenger, & LoTempio, Buck Rogers Company, and the Nowlan Family Trust would be dismissed. The Dilles claims against Louise Geer for breach of fiduciary duty, constructive fraud/fraudulent concealment, and negligence were to proceed.

On 10 February 2021 the US Copyright Office recorded the assignment of 101 copyrights from the Dille Family Trust to the Buck Rogers Company.

Who owns Buck Rogers? That’d the grandchildren of Philip Francis Nowlan, the man who wrote the original story, Armageddon 2419 and had it published on 5 July 1928 in Amazing Stories Volume 3, Number 5 (cover dated August).

As of 2025, the Nowlan Family Trust, via the Buck Rogers Company, LLC and Armageddon, LLC, are now the owners of the trademarks for Buck Rogers, Wilam Deering, Black Barney, Dr. Huer, Killer Kane, Armageddon 2419A.D. and Buck Rogers in the 25^th Century. The marks are active and cover clothing, motion picture films, comic books, downloadable multimedia files, trading cards, books, newspaper strips and more.

That original, 1928, printing of Armageddon 2419, is in the public domain. Also in public domain, in the USA, are the first year of Buck Rogers newspaper strips and appearances (all content up to January 1, 1930). As the name Buck Rogers is still an active trademark for comic books and printed matter, owned by Armageddon, LLC, and the Buck Rogers Company, it’d make sense to check before you start publishing your own Buck Rogers comic books and books.