North Face Decides South Butt Lawsuit Is Not Worth Exploring

from the that's-where-they-stop-exploring dept

The lawsuit between North Face and South Butt sure was entertaining (especially the filings by South Butt's lawyer). However, with the North Face getting some pretty bad publicity over its tactics, which seemed to focus more on embarrassing the founder of the South Butt and his father, it looks like the North Face has realized this was one lawsuit not worth exploring.

Late Friday, the two sides settled -- and while the terms of the settlement appear to be under wraps, there's no indication that the South Butt is going away any time soon:

The most recent post on South Butt's Facebook page, meawhile, states that founder Jimmy Winkelmann, a freshman biomedical engineering student at the University of Missouri, was "partying hard in Panama City with South Butt." Watkins said the settlement did not prevent his client from handing out merchandise while in Florida on spring break.

"Jimmy was down in Panama City having a great deal of fun, enjoying a number of young ladies who enjoyed themselves donning and sporting South Butt wear," Watkins says. "He immediately returned to Panama City to give away many more T-shirts."

Just imagine how much better things would have worked out if the North Face hadn't lawyered up over this, but had simply talked to the South Butt guys and worked out a friendly deal in the first place?

Filed Under: lawsuits, streisand effect, trademark
Companies: north face, south butt

North Face Lawyers Try To Drag South Butt Family Through The Mud

from the a-bit-aggressive dept

We've been covering the bizarre and somewhat ridiculous fight that The North Face is putting up against a kid who created a parody line of clothing called The South Butt. You can read through the previous stories if you haven't been following this, but at its most basic, this is a trademark dispute. The North Face is claiming trademark infringement, and in doing so, demonstrating that it has no sense of humor. However, the latest legal shenanigans from the lawyers representing The North Face are bordering on cruel. In early depositions, it appears that they are trying to drag the names of the kid who created The South Butt and his father (Jimmy and James Winklemann) through the mud by digging up any kind of dirt on them that they can.

Joe Mullin points us to the news of a contentious deposition of the father, where The North Face's lawyers started bringing up a variety of old business partnerships, including one with someone who had pleaded guilty to stealing money from clients. What that has to do with your everyday trademark dispute is not clear, but it certainly angered the father (and also resulted in claims of a conflict of interest, in that the same law firm had apparently been involved with that former business partner in some manner).

Then there's the younger James (better known as Jimmy), and here the North Face lawyers chose to ask him about being charged as a minor for possessing alcohol at a party last fall, as well as being arrested for having a small amount of marijuana (a charge that was later changed to littering). Jimmy admits that this was embarassing, since his father was unaware of these minor infractions, but he ended up confessing to his father before the news of the deposition came out.

But, honestly, what is up with The North Face? They never should have filed this lawsuit in the first place, as it only makes them look like a bunch of bullies. If they were really concerned about protecting the trademark from being considered generic, why not give the kid a super cheap license and enjoy people finding the whole thing amusing. Instead, they're not just aggressively suing this kid, but bringing up a whole bunch of totally unrelated things to try to embarass both the son and his father. The North Face has gone from just being big corporate bullies to being out and out obnoxious jerks.

Filed Under: lawyers, trademark
Companies: north face, south butt

Judge Not Amused By South Butt's Amusing Legal Filing

from the not-a-judge-of-humor,-apparently dept

When we recently wrote about South Butt's response to the lawsuit from The North Face, I wondered how the judge would take it. While that post got a ton of traffic, and we heard from lots of people -- including many lawyers -- claiming that it was one of the "best" legal filings they had ever seen, you could see how a judge might be offended and think that it somehow mocked the judicial process. Indeed, while the judge doesn't appear pissed off about it, he also was not that pleased. Eric Goldman points us to the judge's refusal to dismiss the complaint, which also warns the lawyer to knock off the frivolity:

I remind counsel of their obligations under Rule 11 and that, with each filing, they certify to the Court that the motion is not being presented to harass, cause unnecessary delay or needlessly increase the cost of litigation and that the legal contentions are warranted by existing law or nonfrivolous arguments for extending, modifying, or reversing existing law or for establishing new law. Although this filing may not reach the level of frivolity, it approaches the line.

Too bad. The judicial system would be a lot more interesting if lawyers felt free to respond as The South Butt's lawyer did originally.

Filed Under: frivolity, north face, south butt, trademark
Companies: north face, south butt

South Butt Responds To North Face As Only It Could

from the face-and-a-butt dept

You gotta love snarky legal filings. We've already covered the ongoing saga between the clothing company behind The North Face and a teenager who started a parody line of clothing called The South Butt (short version, TNF got mad and despite lots of public outcry in favor of TSB, TNF's parent company sued). You already knew that the folks behind The South Butt wouldn't necessarily respond in a conventional manner. They had already set up a Facebook app to see if people could tell the difference between a face and a butt.

But reader Dez points us to the news that the South Butt folks have filed their response and it's well worth reading in its entirety: The response is definitely snarky in tone. It talks up the "cherubic" teenager "Jimmy" behind the site (and includes a photo of him for good measure) who it compares to Mad Magazine's Alfred E. Newman mixed with "Skippy the Punk" and notes that despite being 19-years-old, he "looks 14" and "acts 12." It mocks the claim of "piracy" wondering what parody clothing has to do with "high crime on the high seas, perhaps the South Seas, as contrasted with its oft explored polar opposite." It goes on to deny or affirm the various claims made against The South Butt, and does so mockingly at times. But my favorite may be:

The "half ass" design portion of The South Butt logo is comprised of two stripes curved in a butt-like fashion upward from the left side of the "The South Butt" text, while the "half dome" design mark of the North Face is comprised of three thinner lines curved downward from the right side of the text "The North Face."

I'm not sure how the judge will take the filing, but it's definitely amusing. Either way, it still amazes me that The North Face thought that filing this lawsuit made any sense at all. Someone got bad advice.

Filed Under: north face, south butt
Companies: north face, south butt

North Face Lawsuit Against South Butt Going Viral With Facebook App

from the can-you-tell-a-butt-from-a-face dept

Following North Face's incredibly short-sighted decision to sue parody clothing maker, South Butt, it seems that the story is going viral in a variety of ways. Not only is the press and various blogs talking about it, but Paul Alan Levy alerts us to the news that South Butt has released a Facebook app that helps you "sharpen your skills" to see if you can "tell a butt from a face." As Levy notes, this sort of application and attention gaining effort shows why these types of lawsuits are likely to bite you in the butt. Even if there's a legal basis here (and that's questionable), the backlash against such a lawsuit is clear (and was widely predicted when North Face first made its threat). Anyone filing lawsuits these days needs to realize how the court of public opinion can weigh in quite loudly on such things.

Filed Under: backlash, facebook app, lawsuits, trademark, viral
Companies: facebook, north face, south butt

North Face Didn't Get The Message; Sues South Butt

from the yeah,-that'll-go-over-well dept

Earlier this year, we wrote about how outdoor clothing firm North Face was seriously overreacting in threatening a small parody clothing manufacturer run by an 18-year-old student creating clothing under the "South Butt" brand name. At the time, we were amused by the boy's lawyer noting:

"I did try to explain with a great deal of candor to counsel for the North Face that the general public is aware of the difference between a face and a butt."

Well, now he may get the chance to explain that in court as well. Despite all of the publicity around those original threats, which resulted in many people trashing North Face for threatening this parody operation, North Face has apparently decided to still move forward with a lawsuit against the kid (thanks Jackie). Apparently, North Face has no sense of humor whatsoever. It's really amazing that no one at North Face paid much attention to what was being said online about the company even in bringing the threat of a lawsuit. Now that it's actually filed, the backlash may be an even bigger deal. While it is true that companies need to police misuses of their trademark, this was an opportunity for North Face to act cool about it (and, hell, why not just grant the kid a license). It would have made them look cool. Instead, they look like big corporate bullies, beating up on a kid who was having fun selling a parody line of clothing.

Filed Under: clothing, parody, south butt, trademark
Companies: north face, south butt

North Face Goes After South Butt Over Trademark Infringement

from the morons-in-a-hurry-in-heavy-fleeces dept

Another day, another story of a company reacting overly aggressively with a trademark infringement claim. North Face, the well known clothing company, apparently is not at all pleased with a student who created a parody line of clothing called "South Butt." The lawyer representing the student had a great quote:

"I did try to explain with a great deal of candor to counsel for the North Face that the general public is aware of the difference between a face and a butt."

And, indeed, that's the central question in most trademark lawsuits. Are the customers confused into thinking that they're buying one product, rather than the other. It would be pretty difficult for North Face to claim with a straight face that those buying South Butt clothing don't realize it's a different company...

Filed Under: clothing, moron in a hurry, parody, trademark
Companies: north face, south butt