good afternoon and welcome to another
00:08
edition of law is stranger than fiction
00:10
I'm one of your co-hosts Steven Bergman
00:12
and I'm your other co-host Barry Shoal
00:15
and we are shareholders at the law firm
00:16
of Richard's Brant Miller Nelson today's
00:19
episode takes us back into the realm of
00:21
trademark law where there's another
00:23
battle brewing over the use of what
00:25
would seem to be a common word Berry yes
00:28
indeed there is a battle brewing over
00:29
the term Outsider utah-based apparel
00:32
company Cool has obtained a trademark in
00:36
the term outsider for certain apparel
00:38
items it has sued industry giant LL Bean
00:43
for its advertising campaign be an
00:46
outsider let me stop you for a
00:49
second so Cool obtained a trademark on
00:52
the word outsider yes for particular
00:55
items of apparel okay so they don't have
00:57
a general right to the word outsider
00:59
they have it too for example describing
01:01
one of their products for a line of
01:04
outdoor wear yes okay so cool is suing
01:08
LL Bean for trademark infringement
01:10
notwithstanding the fact that LL Bean
01:13
does not carry products manufactured by
01:16
Cool in its stores and they're suing
01:18
them for using the word outsider yes
01:20
even though they're not are they
01:23
describing any of their own products as
01:25
outsider products I believe this is more
01:28
of a general campaign encouraging
01:30
consumers to be an outsider by attiring
01:35
themselves in outdoor ware from LL Bean
01:39
Cool is claiming that they might suffer
01:42
financial damage if consumers are
01:44
confused about the source of the
01:45
products based on the outsider campaign
01:47
so Cool is claiming that because LL Bean
01:51
is promoting the use of its outdoor wear
01:55
by saying be an outsider that people
01:57
will be confused as to where to buy
01:59
Cools outsider brand of products and
02:03
that cool owns all rights in the term
02:05
outsider with regard to outdoor apparel
02:07
but now has LL Bean actually used
02:10
the word outsider to describe any of their
02:13
products only I believe in its in-store
02:15
displays okay so in other words wear
02:18
this and
02:18
go outside type of thing wear this so
02:20
you can be an outsider but they're not
02:22
saying for example buy LL Bean's outsider
02:25
pants or outsider shirts or
02:26
anything like that correct
02:27
okay and when was this lawsuit filed in
02:31
October of last year and does this
02:35
lawsuit have anything to do with the fact
02:36
that LL Bean is planning to open its
02:38
first store in the state of Utah well
02:40
one wonders only because the
02:43
inaugural LL Bean store will be located
02:46
right down the street from Cool's
02:48
flagship store in Park City okay
02:50
does Cool have any kind of history of
02:52
aggressively protecting its trademarks
02:55
as a matter of fact yes it's sued Yeager
02:57
over the use of an advertising campaign
03:00
that urged its consumers to have a Cool
03:05
spot cool as you might know is German
03:08
for the word cool or neat so cool
03:15
the clothing manufacturer is claiming
03:17
that there may be consumer confusion
03:20
resulting from Yeager's advertising
03:23
campaign as well okay and it's my
03:25
understanding in trademark law and I
03:27
know you do a lot more trademark law
03:28
than I do that you have to be aggressive
03:31
in protecting your trademarks or trade
03:33
names otherwise you're at risk of losing
03:35
them is that right that's correct so one
03:37
could say that in this instance Cool is
03:39
simply protecting its rights by being so
03:41
aggressive couldn't they one could say
03:43
that okay
03:45
well that's it for today's story as I
03:47
mentioned that Barry is an expert in
03:49
trademark and copyright law if you have
03:51
any issues concerning those areas please
03:54
contact Barry or if you have a litigation matter
03:56
concerning trademarks of copyrights
03:58
please contact me and for now this is
04:00
another edition of law is stranger than
04:03
fiction

свернуть