Santa Cruz coffee shop with 'cat' in its name hit with cease and desist from Caterpillar Inc.

SF Chronicle ^ | 5/27/19 | By Kyla Linville

[NohSpinZone]

Santa Cruz coffee shop Cat and Cloud Coffee says it received a cease and desist from Caterpillar Inc. — because they use the word "CAT" in their shop name and merchandise.

The large corporation has trademarked "CAT" and has taken legal action against the small business to stop them from using it. Owners of the small business say they first received the letter in August of 2018.

"It seemed ridiculous. So, we responded and got a lawyer, obviously," said Jared Truby, co-owner of Cat and Cloud Coffee. "We asked them to further explain their case, asked them to drop it as we are in a completely different industry. They didn't want to, so we went back and forth a few times and called them out for bullying."

[Flick Lives]

Are they afraid a coffee shop will be confused with a backhoe? *sheesh* the only hoes I see at the moment are the corporate lawyers at Caterpillar. Mueller

[Steve_Seattle]

"I agree with Caterpillar on this one. They are protesting a trademark registration by the coffee shop. Too bad the Fake News didn’t make that clear in the title and at the start of the article."

Yeah, this company really posed a threat to Caterpillar. /s

[Flick Lives]

Dr Seuss’ “Cat in the Hat” will now be retitled “Feline in the Hat”.

[Tucker39]

We’ll, I searched Cat & Cloud, and saw a photo of a baseball cap they advertise at $22 a pop. It’s a geeky-looking whimpy POS that a real man wouldn’t wear to a dogfight. OTOH, to MY mind, CAT is bullying. Tell ‘em to go pound sand. That cap or that logo has NO sort of infringement on the tractor company.

[Steve_Seattle]

"Even if they lose this one in court, they benefit from demonstrating a strong defense of their trademark. Don't blame Caterpillar. Blame trademark law."

Go suck Caterpillar's rear end. They are only making themselves look foolish with this lawsuit. This tiny coffee shop's clothing sideline will not affect Caterpillar in the slightest. They are NOT competing for the same market as Caterpillar and only an idiot or a lawyer would think so.

[Eric in the Ozarks]

Absurd !

[sparklite2]

How can you trademark protect a common word?
This sounds like a Babylon Bee/Onion article.

[Vigilanteman]

The SECOND biggest burger chain in Japan once had their "M" logo in gold. You may guess what happened.

FWIW, this is one of their restaurants in Singapore.

[Bubba Ho-Tep]

You make sense.
Lawyer?

No, but I work in a business that does licensing and talk to lawyers about these things a lot.

[Ruy Dias de Bivar]

CAT got great publicity in EASY RIDER.

[Ruy Dias de Bivar]

CAT got great publicity in EASY RIDER.

[Impala64ssa]

"Imstead of being my deliverance/she had a strange resemblance to a CAT named Frankenstein". Would this lyric need to be removed from that Sam Cooke classic? Does this mean The Stray Cats are also in trouble for copyright infringement?

[SkyDancer]

So you can’t use the word ‘caterpillar’ in advertising your product or service? That company should so a search on caterpillar and see how many places use it in their name.

[Waverunner]

Caterpillar now makes me think of something that starts with "Bull" and ends with "hit" with a great big "S" in the middle.

[Jagermonster]

Shoulda changed the radiator hoses...

[JusPasenThru]

That does it. I’m not buying my next backhoe from them.

[JerryBlackwell]

Logo on coffee shop merchandise looks nothing like the Caterpillar logo

[rebel25]

Did you forget the sarcasm tag, from my eye thd logos are not similar at all.

[TexasGator]

“Did you forget the sarcasm tag, from my eye thd logos are not similar at all.”

My post was not sarcasm but yours seems to be.

[TexasGator]

“So no one can use the name “cat” in a business name? Ridiculous.”

There is more to the story but it would not generate so many emotional responses.