Wawa Versus Dawa: Trademark Dispute Blamed On A Need To Police That Doesn't Exist
from the wawa? dept
We've made the point before. In the pantheon of trademark disputes, the most commonly trotted out excuse for overt protectionism is nothing but a headfake. While companies often proclaim their bullying actions are a requirement under trademark law's provision for active policing of infringement, the fact is that this requirement does not mandate that companies roadblock any and all similar uses to their marks. Instead, the idea is that trademark holders cannot allow actual infringements to go unchallenged.
For an example of the difference, we can point to the current dispute between two companies in the food mart business, Dawa Food Mart and Wawa Inc. The former is a single store in New Jersey that has operated for two years now. The latter is a mid-sized chain that only recently decided that Dawa infringed on its trademarks.
According to The Courier-Post, Wawa has filed a federal trademark infringement lawsuit against Dawa Food Mart, located at 15 Lafayette Street in Paterson, Passaic County.
The Korean owner of Dawa Food Mart, identified only as Han in the report, explained to the Courier-Post that "Dawa" means "welcome" in his native language. The shop has been open for about two years now.
It's worth noting that Wawa has a long history of policing its trademark to near feverish degrees, having filed suit against tour and gaming companies that use the term "wawa" in their names. At least Dawa Food Mart is more in the marketplace ballpark, though even then we're talking about completely different animals. Add to that the difference in stature and offerings and it's unclear how likely any real confusion could possibly be.
And, since the potential confusion is really the question in trademark actions, you might have expected Wawa to make the claim for it when asked to comment on the suit. But it only did so in a roundabout way, instead seeming to fall back on the old requirement to police excuse.
"Wawa spokeswoman Lori Bruce told the newspaper that the lawsuit is about fulfilling an "obligation to protect consumers from any likelihood of confusion" and protecting "the brand name," symbolized by the Canada goose whose name is a direct translation from the Native American language used in the region."
There are some barriers to Dawa winning out, which mostly amounts to both brands using the color red on signage. Still, it seems silly to soberly worry about any real customer confusion here.
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Filed Under: confusion, trademark
Companies: dawa food mart, wawa
Reader Comments
The First Word
“Oh, is that what it is?
I always thought it was meant to represent the words of a thirsty two-year-old!
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http://www.wawa.cc/
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DAWA vs WAWA
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Re:
Scared the hell out of us. We thought we'd walked into a goose cult.
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Having lived just down the road from Wawa...
I think this is a case of Wawa's legal department fabricating a non-existent problem in order to justify its existence.
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Has anyone asked Baba Wawa for her view?
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Silly question
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Re: DAWA vs WAWA
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Great - my family can stop shopping at Wawa
I see their Privacy Policy (https://www.wawa.com/privacy.aspx) and Terms and Conditions (https://www.wawa.com/terms.aspx) both require Javascript to be enabled, which is probably a violation of some fair access act.
This level of precision is also dumb:"© 2017 Wawa, Inc. (Version: 2.13.6236.25792 on PRDWCW02)"
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Re: Silly question
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Establishment versus small player
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This sounds similar to a textbook example trademark infringement case in Business Law 101
In that case it was 7/11 suing a convenience store called 8/11 that was quite similar to 7/11.
7/11 clearly had a much stronger case there then Wawa does against Dawa. And yet when it got to court, 7/11 lost the case.
The main reason 7/11 lost? 7/11's stores and layouts were too generic and not uniquely identified with them. There was no other potential infringement of the 7/11 logo/etc in 8/11. All they had was a claim to a similar name.
Now if you tried to rip off say McDonald's with a store called say "McSmith's", with pink uniforms with a big M on them, and a big pink M sign outside, that's a different story. Then you're ripping off much more than just McDonald's name.
So given that case, I highly doubt Wawa can win this if it actually goes to court.
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Re: This sounds similar to a textbook example trademark infringement case in Business Law 101
How about if you have a burger called the Big Mick with no sesame seeds on the bun and the Golden Arcs instead of the Golden Arches?
Sorry, couldn't resist, but it's weird how an 80s comedy might have a good lesson on how far might be too far in infringement.
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Oh, is that what it is?
I always thought it was meant to represent the words of a thirsty two-year-old!
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Re: Having lived just down the road from Wawa...
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Re: DAWA vs WAWA
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】您的举报信已提交成功,请妥善保存查询码(1500F2HFG464GRF1MS0E), 便查询举报信息。【您的举报信已提交成功,请妥善保存查询码(150A52H60J463 2P9SW5D),以便查询举报信息。】您的举报信已提交成功,请妥善保存查询码(B FA05276GB63B6G90J26),以便查询举报信息【2017年六月27日至28日中央纪委专案组来 辽阳市委,27日早快七点至28日上午,市委官命公安和特警一千多人保护市委 贪官,怕正义访民向中央纪委求救和揭露2017年辽阳市以市委至最基层变态卡 屄官丑恶行为【】【17年7月1日辽宁省特别辽阳市官们用操党妈和害民当中共 官-庆祝中共早灭亡】真为中共卖命无好果】天地神灵和人暴怒齐讨伐灭党真 理和讨伐害民骗民辱民中共各级缺德卡屄官集团出师表;彻底灭害民骗民辱 中共各级缺德卡屄官体【市委主要官们自己利益高于党和人民利益;恳请 治局给民生路【革命前辈和革命后代何时看见中共习近平正义必胜真阳光】 辽阳市至发稿时还在魔鬼-吸血鬼-变态鬼等卡屄官领导下【官顺口溜,有后 有关系特事特办;没权色钱走法律层序和层层告,玩死百姓】辽宁省特别辽 阳市至发稿时还在魔鬼-吸血鬼-变态鬼等卡屄官领导下【官顺口溜,有后台 关系特事特办;没权色钱走法律层序和层层告,玩死百姓;党民如鱼水-官 益高于党和人民利益】16年五月21日市自来水公司修主管道破坏主管下水管 脏水反进我住处,损失财物近一万元,我只求五千元赔偿,自来水人看后说 行不多,等星期一上自来水调节,星期一自来水接待处官看我没给好处费, 我走法律层序玩死民;2016年至2017年6月23日晚,发稿时我求救市政府12345电 和信访局等各部门没人办正事【国务院和中纪委等度知道我是老红军老八 后人,我是真特困户,如果我有钱我会自己修,心正身正神泽明,人心不正 不是人】如果我把别人家淹啦,我得先给人家赔礼-请求对方谅解和给对方经 济赔偿,这是做人最基本道理;自来水接待处官说市委书记王凤波是我舅哥 别说赔五千,五万元马上送我家;没权色钱走法律层序玩死民【辽阳市各 门疯传市委书记王凤波是马戏团出身,没文化;带领辽阳市各级缺德贪腐官 玩辽阳人民,百姓不服就告状,层层告玩死民】恳请中央和省委和省民心网 民生路【实在活不起右手匕首-左手打火机,公共汽车高峰期油箱;高铁翻 很简单;民不希望政府官逼民走绝路。民学儒释道弘扬儒释道,没白活今 ,为何中共政府不给民生活希望呢】
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您的举报信已提交成功,请妥善保存查询码(BFABH7CCBCIB8CHXSFQ3), 以便查询举报信息。
【您的举报信已提交成功,请妥善保存查询码(BF0BH72DCE5F AFLT6089),以便查询举报信息。】【实在活不起右手匕首-左手打火机, 公共汽车高峰期油箱;高铁翻车很简单;民不 希望政府官逼民走绝路。民学儒释道弘扬儒释 道,没白活今生,为何中共政府不给民生活希 望呢
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您的举报信已提交成功,请妥善保存查询码(BFABH7CCBCIB8CHXSFQ3), 以便查询举报信息。
【您的举报信已提交成功,请妥善保存查询码(BF0BH72DCE5F AFLT6089),以便查询举报信息。】省委至最基层书记和民生官何时办人事【民 迫害一无所有负债苦饥生存,缺德卡屄贪官阴笑不管;操习近平党妈当官 养大小妈和鸭子有钱有房有车等】您的举报信已提交成功,请妥善保存查询 码(1FABI3B76J3I435F21T4),以便查询举报信息。【
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】【实在活不起右手匕首 -左手打火机, 公共汽车高峰期油箱;高铁翻车很简单;民不 希望政府官逼民走绝路。民学儒释道弘扬儒释 道,没白活今生,为何中共政府不给民生活希 望呢】
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