If you’re going to make a shirt using a trademarked name and logo, you’d better have permission from the trademark holder. Just ask TopShop, which was called out for selling a $700 leather jacket, complete with an apparently unauthorized use of name and logo for the band Against Me!
The band’s singer, Laura Jane Grace, asked TopShop about this trademark tomfoolery in her Twitter feed over the weekend:
In response to some doubters who tried to argue that this was fair use or that you can’t trademark just two words, Grace immediately pointed out that she indeed holds the trademark to this term — registered with the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office in 2010 under Grace’s former name, Thomas J. Gabel.
That trademark includes the use of the mark on “Clothing for men, women and children, namely, t-shirts, tank tops, sweat shirts, sweaters, jackets, hats, visors, head bands, scarves, shorts, socks and casual footwear.”
On Sunday, TopShop replied on Twitter that it was looking into the matter, but withdrew the jackets from stores in the meantime.
The thing is, the jacket appears to be covered in logos from other bands. Curious to find out if TopShop got any of their permission or just assumed it could slather other folks’ logos on a jacket and it wouldn’t be a problem.
If that were true, the Washington Redskins wouldn’t be asking the Supreme Court to sort out the validity of its trademark. The team stands to potentially lose a lot of money if anyone can sell Redskins shirts, jackets, hats, or other gear without having to license it from them.
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