Are these marks confusing enough
that buyers might think products
bearing them are from the same source?
(Special to QMI Agency)
Please read the whole of the linked article which sets out the defence,
Posted on 03/08/2010 1:18:50 PM PST by Clive
The North Face Apparel Co., more commonly known as The North Face, recently filed suit against Jimmy Winkelmann, a 19-year old high school student and his small Missouri clothing company called The South Butt.
North Face's statement of claim alleges trademark infringement and dilution, among other claims.
North Face sells athletic apparel and gear for runners, rock climbers, snowboarders and others. South Butt sells jackets, T-shirts and other apparel "approved for relaxation purposes only."
Winkelmann says his intent was not to rip off the North Face, but to offer consumers an alternative.
He came up with the South Butt idea to mock North Face fleece jackets worn by the popular crowd at his school.
In response to North Face's tagline, "Never stop exploring", South Butt adopted "Never stop relaxing."
The North Face's legal counsel sent Winkelmann a cease and desist letter in August 2009, requesting that he stop using the South Butt name and logo and halt all sales, production and promotion of South
Butt products.
According to North Face, the two logos are so similar as to possibly cause "consumer confusion as to the source, sponsorship or affiliation of particular promotions and services that could dilute or tarnish the distinctive quality of the famous and distinctive marks."
Winkelmann recently filed a trademark application for the South Butt, which the North Face legal counsel also asked him to withdraw.
In response, Winkelmann's counsel -- a friend of Winkelmann's father, who apparently agreed to represent the teen in exchange for a good bottle of red wine -- filed a somewhat irreverent defence.
(Excerpt) Read more at technology.canoe.ca ...
Are these marks confusing enough
that buyers might think products
bearing them are from the same source?
(Special to QMI Agency)
Please read the whole of the linked article which sets out the defence,
damn, there goes my idea for a chain of Young Army stores...
-
Maybe if the buyers can't read ...
Good for the young man for standing up for free enterprise.
LOL!
The North Face has a case.
If I was on the jury, I'd say no risk of confusion. But North Face is entitled to a trial.
The defence points out that, to emphasize its position that the marks are unlikely to confuse, the defendant added this to its website: "We are not in any fashion related to nor do we want to be confused with the North Face Apparel Corp. or its products sold under 'the North Face' brand. If you are unable to discern the difference between a face and a butt, we encourage you to buy North Face products."
This 19 year old is going to learn a great deal about corporate logos and IP.
Too bad he’s going to learn it from the fine he’s going to get slapped with.
It’s clearly meant to suggest the North Face, including a marked symmetry with it, but I certainly don’t think anybody looking for North Face would select South Butt by mistake. Maybe North Face is jealous they didn’t think of the idea first.
Parody does not typically qualify as a copyright infringement ...
SnakeDoc
Yeah, I’d say the same (lose the arcs), fill up the logo space with the words, and change the text color to black and the background color to green.
Starbucks encountered a situation where someone did a parody that was intended to be critical, and they successfully sued claiming that people would think it had been officially derived from the official Starbucks label.
Helen Thomas’s face and a butt crack could easily be confused.
So?
Do you think North Face knows the difference between it’s butt and a hole in the ground?
There is your butt, here is a hole in the ground ........
I think North Face has a good case.
This 19 year old is going to learn a great deal about corporate logos and IP.
Something that apparently NBC had failed to learn when they swiped that stupid N logo from an educational TV network in Nebraska and had to shell out a huge settlement.
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