Local clothing line forced to rebrand

The name isn’t the issue. She failed to register the ZaraBumba trademark, which would have enabled her to tell Zara Corporation where to get off.

Keep in mind that there’s no actual ruling that she’d infringed on Zara’s trademark. A small scale suburban operator, faced with the might of Zara, simply chose not to fight. There’s every chance that if she’d fought, she would have won and been allowed to keep her name – but we’ll never know.

curmudgery said :

Cynical? Moi?

Yes, googling one’s business name ideas would be Step 1. Checking with ASIC would be Step 2.

What might or might not have happened 20 years ago is irrelevant – this happened last week.

I don’t think the fashion organisation called Zara is really a mum in a garage. See http://www.zara.com/

My brother – the one who makes bikes – he has a son named Malvern. How about ‘Malvern Son’ for a new brand of bike. That’d be OK wouldn’t it? He’s such a lovely little bloke.

So are you insisting she was malicious in her naming? Or are you suggesting that you should be allowed to be equally unthoughtful? (remembering, of couse that her unthoughtfullness in choosing a name resulted in her needing to rebrand).

Cynical? Moi?

Yes, googling one’s business name ideas would be Step 1. Checking with ASIC would be Step 2.

What might or might not have happened 20 years ago is irrelevant – this happened last week.

I don’t think the fashion organisation called Zara is really a mum in a garage. See http://www.zara.com/

My brother – the one who makes bikes – he has a son named Malvern. How about ‘Malvern Son’ for a new brand of bike. That’d be OK wouldn’t it? He’s such a lovely little bloke.

curmudgery said :

Oh, this is wonderful.

I might open a General Store and call it WoolworthPickup. My great-uncle’s middle name was Woolworth and it’s not the same as that other company’s name because I’ve added the word ‘Pickup’. D’ya see? Clever, eh.

My brother builds his own bicycles and is looking for a brand name. Whad’aya think of GiantBike?

Sorry, but I have no sympathy for this lady. None whatsoever.

Funny you should mention bikes. Specialized bikes recently threatened to sue a Canadian bike shop/cafe owner because he had the word “Roubaix” in the business name and that happens to be a model of Specialized bike (and a town in France…). Also, more recently, Specialized threatened legal action against another bike manufacturer, Neil Pryde, over the name of one of their models of bikes, the Alizé. Specialized claimed it was to similar to a model that they have called Allez.

http://velonews.competitor.com/2013/12/bikes-and-tech/specializeds-disastrous-trademark-case-is-unnecessary-to-defend-the-brand_310878

http://road.cc/content/news/115804-neil-pryde-bikes-renames-its-alize-bike-following-trademark-dispute-specialized

curmudgery said :

Oh, this is wonderful.

I might open a General Store and call it WoolworthPickup. My great-uncle’s middle name was Woolworth and it’s not the same as that other company’s name because I’ve added the word ‘Pickup’. D’ya see? Clever, eh.

My brother builds his own bicycles and is looking for a brand name. Whad’aya think of GiantBike?

Sorry, but I have no sympathy for this lady. None whatsoever.

You are cynical. What it shows is that you should extensivily google any name before starting any business. Twenty years ago this would not have been a problem, as Zara™ would have trouble claiming that there was any confusion with their brand, as they would have trouble claiming there was any overlap in their market place. Now, with the internet, two mums in two garages on oposite sides of the world are in the same market place.

would be funny if she then gets served by Tiffany and co

Oh, this is wonderful.

I might open a General Store and call it WoolworthPickup. My great-uncle’s middle name was Woolworth and it’s not the same as that other company’s name because I’ve added the word ‘Pickup’. D’ya see? Clever, eh.

My brother builds his own bicycles and is looking for a brand name. Whad’aya think of GiantBike?

Sorry, but I have no sympathy for this lady. None whatsoever.

Trademark holders are obliged to defend their marks. This isn’t one bit surprising.

Good to see these big companies are focussed on looking after their trademark rights, whilst trampling all over the rights of their foreign (sweatshop?) workers……..