The North Face is a well-known clothing brand, with its own distinctive logo and the slogan 'Never Stop Exploring'. It seems a St. Louis, MO university student came up with a spoof on the name, logo and slogan: he established The South Butt, with a somewhat similar logo and the slogan 'Never Stop Relaxing'.
Whilst clearly a parody, The South Butt might have remained an obscure, local venture - until The North Face decided to sue for copyright infringement. The St. Louis Riverfront Times reports:
Meet Jimmy Winkelmann. Or as his lawyer affectionately refers to his client: "Little Jimmy."
At the tender age of 18, the St. Louis native and University of Missouri freshman apparently has caught the attention of the outdoor clothing giant North Face, which is threatening to sue Winkelmann over his clothing line South Butt.
Winkelmann's attorney, Albert Watkins, says North Face has indicated that South Butt (which riffs the North Face "Never Stop Exploring" motto with the tagline "Never Stop Relaxing") violates its trademark and could confuse the public.
But that argument just doesn't hold up, according to Watkins: "There appears to be little recognition, if any, that the savvy of consumers precludes anyone from confusing a face with a butt," says the lawyer.
Yesterday Watkins sent out a press release in which he and Winkelmann defended South Butt as an innocuous product whose proceeds are being used to complete Winkelmann's education.
. . .
Watkins says sales of South Butt products skyrocketed yesterday after media outlets ran with the story. Prior to this week, Winkelmann had made just over $5,000 from South Butt clothes available online at Ladue Pharmacy.
There's more at the link.
Skyrocketed indeed! It's been reported that since news of the lawsuit broke, South Butt has been selling its products at the rate of $5,000 a day. Mr. Winkelmann claims to have made enough to cover the costs of his four years at university, including tuition, residence, books and living expenses. He's certainly gathered an army of admirers and supporters: as of the time of writing, The South Butt's Facebook page had well over 11,000 'fans'.
The North Face finally filed suit in the face of Mr. Winkelmann's intransigence. A later report states:
The North Face apparel corporation . . . filed suit last Thursday in Missouri's federal Eastern District to get Winkelmann to stop infringing on their trademark and product rights.
"While [South Butt] may try to legitimize their piracy under the banner of parody," the complaint reads, "their own conduct belies that claim."
Last August, when North Face found out that Winkelmann's tiny company had tried to register its own South Butt trademark, the outdoor clothing and gear giant threatened legal action. Winkelmann refused to stop hawking his wares, and instead offered to sell his company in September to The North Face for $1 million. Oh, the balls!
A couple weeks later, South Butt attempted yet again to register its trademark, and a media blitz began. The publicity caused a surge in sales for South Butt, and Winkelmann retracted his offer of sale.
The North Face claims that South Butt's products are "causing confusion, mistake and deception among the general purchasing public."
In a rebuttal, eternal quote machine Al Watkins, legal counsel for Winkelmann and his company, insists that "The South Butt has previously made it clear to the North Face that the consuming public is insightful enough to know the difference between a face and a butt."
In fact, Jimmy Winkelmann himself is testing that very claim on Facebook: ... the "Face or Butt Challenge" quiz. (You need to be logged in, of course).
"In every sense," Watkins adds, "The South Butt is prepared to assume the proverbial position and take everything that North Face thrusts at it."
Again, there's more at the link.
I admit, The South Butt's logo seems to be, prima facie, a rip-off of The North Face's logo, as does its name and slogan: but did TNF really think this one through? I imagine there'll be so much laughter generated over this lawsuit that they may end up with egg on their faces, even if they win. As for the jury instructions . . . how is the judge going to tell them to assess the difference between a face and a butt? And what damages will be involved?
Peter
US humorist Will Rogers was sued in a similar manner back in the 20's over his "Illiterate Digest" which was a parody of a popular magazine of the time, Literary Digest Topics of the Day. That one was settled out of court, as I remember, with the lawsuit providing grist for Rogers' humor mill.
ReplyDeleteIt may seem like The North Face is being a bit overzealous here, but there is a deeper explanation. As US trademark law has been explained to me, it's much of a, "Use it or lose it," endeavour; if you don't defend your trademark aggressively upon becoming aware of its usurption, you effectively lose it, and no future legal defense will be seen as valid. This may be a publicity stunt to the little guy, but the big company does legitimately stand to lose big if they don't defend it.
ReplyDeleteI hope the kid looses. His logo does look much like " The North Face" Logo, and he is riding on the coat tails of the name brand of "The North Face" and if I owned North Face and spent millions of dollars developing a brand name. I would not let someone come in and just make fun of it and take some of my customers away or worse destroy the image I created and spend millions on
ReplyDeleteGiven the quality of jurors frequently selected for trials, are we really sure they can tell the difference between a face and a butt?
ReplyDeleteSounds like North Face think they have Ed Zackery's disease. They think their Face looks Ed Zackery like his Butt.
ReplyDeleteprecludes anyone from confusing a face with a butt,
ReplyDeleteYou haven't seen some of the people around here?
Anyway, have the jury take the face/butt quiz, and rule on that basis, easy breezy.
I'm inclined to buy something of his just on principle.
Jim
Too funny... :-)
ReplyDeleteI just wrote an email to TNF:
ReplyDelete"Your lawsuit against Jimmy Winkelmann and his "The South Butt" product line.
I just read about what you are doing to a young entrepreneur and I think it is beyond reproach. I don't think anybody's as stupid as YOU claim that we're going to confuse your product with his, unless that person is illiterate and dyslexic at the same time.
His logo and your logo don't even share the same font, so how is he infringing on your trademark?
You going after Mr. Winkelmann is just another case of Goliath trying to destroy David. Tell you what though, I have a feeling you're going to come out the big loser in this lawsuit, because people are going to to see this as corporate greed trying to destroy the little guy.
I, for one, have never been a fan of your products, but until now, I wouldn't have resisted buying one of your products if it suited me. However, after reading about this, I wouldn't buy your products if they were free, with a rebate.
Your condescension and arrogance has just turned me off from your product line for good.
Sincerely,
Wai"
Sorry guys, I have to disagree with you that this is copyright infringement. Parodies are done all the time in the entertainment industry. I support Mr. Winkelmann and I hope his dreams aren't dashed by corporate greed and arrogance.