Defendant’s Ridiculously Fantastic Opposition Memo in North Face Motion

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Camille Dodero of Gawker recently drew attention to a trademark lawsuit brought by The North Face against a small company parodying the brand. As Camille explains:

In invoking past precedents, the rebuttal scores an awesome trifecta by mentioning “Mutant of Omaha,” “Debbie Does Dallas,” and “Buttwiper” all in two paragraphs…. Later, a Jordache case citation conjures the phrases “fat butts” and “lard asses”…[and] [t]here’s a self-deprecating aside that this entire premise is “immature,” “sophomoric and not tremendously clever.”

In all, it’s surprising both that The North Face would bring a trademark lawsuit when there clearly will not be any confusion in the marketplace, and that the lawyers for the Defendant dared to submit such an irreverent memo. Then again, a suit claiming confusion over a company named The South Butt really begs to have ass-inine comparisons drawn.

(photo: Shutterstock: 74342545)

Graham Martin is an attorney in Minneapolis, focusing on contracts. He runs the Pro and Contracts blog, and would like to become a senior partner in a law firm without being an associate first. If you have an in, you should take it first, but give him a heads-up as well.