You can't make this stuff up... I personally think North Face is giving away FAR too much free advertising with this frivolous suit... and I bet the court awards damages to the South Butt boy for the waste of the courts time. The South Butt They have a great motto too... Never Stop Relaxing... and... Fit For The Great Indoors... Here's an older headline... North Face Threatens to Sue Teen for 'South Butt' Apparel Trademark Infringement - ABC News The North Face sues Ladue-based South Butt - STLtoday.com
Trademark law, like most IP law, is stupid. There are provisions in the law that invalidate your trademark protection if you don't actively defend it. This results in companies going after every little infringement.
Yeah, i see that frequently in some of the sites i peruse - A smaller site gets linked by a site with a massive following, and suddenly their web traffic multiplies by 10 or 100 overnight - their servers just can't take it. Further, their contract with their hosting provider probably includes a maximum bandwidth limit, which they exceed. In short, the overwhelming and sudden popularity takes them down.
North Face = overpriced yuppie crap. Monster cable pulled the same crap a while back, with entertaining results: Blue Jeans Cable Strikes Back - Response to Monster Cable — Reviews and News from Audioholics
Reminds me of something that happened to me. I run a website where the domain was owned by somebody else. He let the domain expire, and it was quickly snatched by a domain squatter. I then got an email from him offering the domain back at something like $1000.00. I deleted the email (it wasn't the main domain name, anyway, but one that redirected to it). A few days later I got another email with a "one day only half-price sale" offering it for $500.00. I deleted the email. A few days later I got a third email saying "OK, make an offer." I responded. I said, "Make an offer? OK. How about nothing. Does nothing sound good to you?" I proceeded to link to the various laws against what he was doing, with a not-so-thinly veiled threat that I'd involve lawyers if need be. The next day the domain was magically available. The people I run the website for grabbed it, and everybody (except the domain squatter) lived happily ever after.
North Face is an extremely popular brand in China, leading to the production of a lot of knockoff... um... 'tribute' merchandise. Not that anyone asked.
North Face Lawsuit Against South Butt Going Viral With Facebook App | Techdirt Now there is a Facebook tutorial on how to tell the difference between a face and a butt...
Looks like they settled the case... And South Butt is still in business... North Face, South Butt settle lawsuit - Consumer news- msnbc.com
