Posted on 05/29/2019 12:07:53 PM PDT by 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."
(Excerpt) Read more at sfgate.com ...
What assholes.
Great press for Caterpillar Inc...
Yeah. It reminds me of the Harley Davidson attempt to protect the “potato potato” sound they make. Pure publicity, and nothing more.
They should have sued the broadway show, “Cats”.
Sheer insanity.
Caterpillar should be ashamed of themselves and a judge certainly should rule against them.
Well, there you have it. You can no longer refer to your felinian friends as cats . . . Katz, maybe.
What does the shop’s logo look like?
Is Caterpillar going to go after every business with Dog and Cat in it’s name? Sounds like they have a bit too much time on their hands.
“Uh, the copyright department at Caterpillar working overtime? I’m all for property rights but this seems a bit excessive unless the coffee shop is including Caterpillar tractors in their merchandising or something.”
Not about coffee. Simple filing by CAT to protect their trademark CAT which Cat and Coffee is using on apparel.
So no one can use the name “cat” in a business name? Ridiculous.
The Caterpillar or Cat logo is very specific. Unless the shop was blatant about it and close to it, sure I can understand it. Reminds me of Coming to America’ and he had a McDowell’s, not McDonald’s.
Has anyone copyrighted “Dog” yet? A friend wants to know.
A few years back, a local radio station had to remove Target from their name for the same reason.
What happens when you have corporate lawyers, that need to justify their paychecks...
There are many assholes in large corporations, most are leftists.
They are incredibly oblivious, bubble-dwelling creatures who seem to have no concept of the real world. Second only to "higher education." I wouldn't believe it, until I saw if for myself.
Yeah, I'm not thinking bulldozers here...
All cats are now property of Caterpillar, Inc.
I suppose folks could read the article.
But, what fun is there in that?
Some 20 some years ago Sony Corporation (of Japan) sued some restaurant in Baltimore that was called Sony’s. The Filipino-American owner called the restaurant after her first name. Why it was her restaurant. However big bad Sony Corp Japan took a dim view and forced to change the name. They got a lot of bad publicity I thought they might cave.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.