How much do Intellectual Property lawyers make?

How do I explain to my landlord that parking my bicycle in the rack does not make it property of the apartment complex?

• My landlord has a reasonable need to identify which bikes in the outdoor racks belong to current tenants and which bikes are abandoned. Unfortunately, none of the managers we have had understands that the state issues bicycle registration stickers, so they want us to label our bikes with the same "Property of [Apartment Complex]" stickers they use for office and maintenance equipment. This is not in our lease or house rules, and I'm fairly sure it's illegal. But when I protest, front desk staff give me nonsense answers about not wanting to ride my bike and it being just a formality. The thing is, tenants' bicycles are NOT company property. Staff said they will cut the lock and confiscate my bike if it doesn't have their "Property of" sticker on it. I don't have room in my studio apartment to park the bike inside all the time, particularly during their monthly inspections or when I'm cleaning. I understand that these are nice serialized stickers and all, but when I ride my bike in the community, I don't want it to look like stolen property. Bike thefts are common near colleges, there have been a rash of thefts from the main library, and everyone is keeping their eyes peeled to find bike thieves and recover stolen bikes. A friend who volunteers for a group that does bike clinics and bike event parking said their group would call the police if they saw a bike with a "Property of" corporate sticker on it. I'm thinking of selling my bike, but I won't be able to sell it with a sticker that says I don't own it. We live in a community with little crime and the police would have time to respond to such a call. How can I convince the landlord that it is not appropriate to force tenants to label their bikes as property of the apartment complex? I thought I'd settled this two years ago, but they lost my letter, and I lost my file in a hard drive crash. We have a new manager, but the staff told her that this is how the old manager did it. UPDATE: It turns out that the new manager tried to ask her staff to update a list she assumed was CA bike license numbers. Staff were the ones using Property Of serialized stickers and assumed she meant they should bully tenants into using those stickers. When I talked to the new manager, she said all she needs is the CA bike license number.

• Answer:

  A landlord generally has the right to adopt "reasonable" rules concerning the storage of bicycles on its property. However, a requirement to affix a permanent label to a bicycle would likely be considered unreasonable. Moreover, requiring the label to say: "Property Of" the complex would indeed be illegal, as it falsely proclaims ownership of property belonging to another.   The simple solution would be to affix the sticker to a removable part of the bicycle or to a sign that is placed on the bicycle while in storage on the property. Or perhaps on the lock instead of the bicycle.