Urban Outfitters With A Surprising First Win In Navajo Trademark Dispute: Navajo Isn't Famous

from the hmmm dept

Earlier this year, we wrote about an ongoing trademark dispute between the Navajo Nation and Urban Outfitters. The clothier had released a line of clothing and accessories, most notably women's underwear, with traditional Native American prints and had advertised them as a "Navajo" line. The Nation, which has registered trademarks on the term "Navajo", had sued for profits and/or damages under trademark law and the Indian Arts and Crafts Act, which prohibits companies from passing off goods as being made by Native Americans when they were not. In that post, I had focused on whether or not the term "Navajo" was deserving of trademark protection at all, or whether it ought to be looked at in the same way we consider words like "American", "Canadian" or "Mexican", as generic terms to denote a group of people.

Interestingly, the first ruling has come down in the case. It's in favor of Urban Outfitters, although admittedly not in the form that I would have expected. The court has granted partial summary judgment in favor of the company on the claims of blurring and tarnishment by use of the trademark, stating that the term "Navajo" is not famous by the dilution standards.

"While plaintiffs' evidence may be relevant to their infringement claim, it is not legally sufficient to establish a 'famous' mark and, hence, to defeat defendants' motions for partial summary judgment on the claims for dilution by blurring and garnishment," said US District Judge Bruce Black in New Mexico, according to The Fashion Law. "'Famous' requires more than just widespread distribution and significant advertising expenditures," he said, though he acknowledged that "very few courts have found a mark legally 'famous.'"

Which is true. The standards set within the Federal Trademark Dilution Act reserve relief for dilution and tarnishment for what it considers famous marks. The idea between this and the generic nature of a trademark are similar: if nobody is associating the use of the mark with the trademark holder in the first place, then there is no dilution or tarnishment being done. For either to occur, consumers need to make that connection to begin with.

I'll say, separately, I'm a bit surprised by this. Off the cuff, if someone had asked me if I considered the term "Navajo" to be of a level of fame to be widely known by the average person, I would have said yes. I would have added a caveat in that its widespread usage and understanding is an exact example of why I would consider it to be generic and not a source-identifier in the first place, however.

This doesn't end the lawsuit, of course, and there is still potential trademark infringement to be considered, just not the claims of dilution and tarnishment.

A search for the word "Navajo" on Urban Outfitters' site no longer turns up any results, but the Navajo Nation claims that the retailer has sold more than $500 million worth of Navajo-branded goods. The case is not yet over, though, so there's still time for some of those earnings to change hands: six counts are still pending against Urban Outfitters, including trademark infringement, unfair competition, and false advertising.

Yet it seems clear to me that the same reasoning that brought about the rulings on the dilution and tarnishment claims are easily translated to the remaining claims. If the trademark is brewing confusion, due either to a lack of notoriety or its generic nature, then the rest of the claims may fall as well.

Filed Under: famous, generic, navajo, trademark
Companies: urban outfitters

Navajo Nation's Trademark Suit Against Urban Outfitters Proceeds; But Should It?

from the trademark-nation dept

Alright, this one has me more than a bit puzzled. We've written here before about Urban Outfitters, which has previously been on the receiving end of intellectual property disputes in the form of the company's use of famous Obama iconography and for trying to inject a bit of humor into its coffee offerings. This time around, however, the clothing retailer is facing a lawsuit from the Navajo Nation for selling clothing and merchandise with patterns inspired by Native American designs and including the word "Navajo" or "Navaho" in the offerings.

The clothing chain will ask a federal judge in Santa Fe, N.M., on Wednesday to limit how far back in time the tribe can go to seek money over the company's products, which included everything from necklaces, jackets and pants to a flask and underwear with the "Navajo" name.

The tribe's lawsuit alleging trademark violations has been working its way through the courts for more than three years. Efforts to settle the case featuring two unlikely foes have failed as the tribe seeks vast sums of money from the company that also owns the Anthropologie and Free People brands.

The tribe isn't specifying exactly how much it's seeking, but considering it is asking for all the profits from the relevant merchandise on some of the products in question, and $1,000 per day per item on others, we're talking about millions of dollars here. The tribe is arguing that Urban Outfitters is violating the tribe's federal and state trademarks on its name, as well as the Indian Arts and Crafts Act, which was designed to prevent the sale of goods designed to fool customers into thinking that they were actually made by Native Americans. Let's deal with these in reverse order.

Urban Outfitters is the kind of retailer you find commonly in shopping districts all over the place. The company has never attempted to draw any affiliation with Native Americans in the past. Navajo branded clothing is branded as such as an homage to the inspiration for the design. The Navajo Nation has put forth a survey showing that 40% of consumers were confused by the use, but Urban Outfitters is expected to attack the validity of the survey. Keep in mind that the Arts and Crafts Act is entirely about fooling customers into thinking that the goods were made by Native Americans, rather than having anything to do with appropriating the name of the tribe. It's the kind of thing that, even if this were an actual valid problem, could be fixed by Urban Outfitters putting up a sign that said, "These products were not made by Native Americans," or something of that nature. But that isn't what the tribe actually wants. They want licensing from the trademark of their name.

As for the trademark in question, Urban Outfitters claims that "Navajo" is generic and that the tribe has abandoned the trademark first granted in the 1940s. The Navajo Nation pushed back with some history of the term Navajo, which was apparently a derogatory term invented by Spanish settlers. The claim is that the inventive nature of the word is a rebuttal on it being generic.

The Nation disputes the allegation of genericness. It asserts that the NAVAJO® mark is inherently distinctive as either fanciful, arbitrary or suggestive. According to the Nation, the mark is a fanciful because the term “Navajo” is an archaic, invented name, and fanciful when applied to the classes of goods of jewelry, clothing and accessories. Ironically, the Nation explained that the term was originally a derogative term used by the Spanish when referring to members of the Nation. The Nation members themselves refer to themselves as Diné. Accordingly, NAVAJO® is an invented term and fanciful when applied to the goods sold by the Nation.

In the alternative, the mark is arbitrary when used to describe these goods. Finally, the Nation contends that the mark is at the very least suggestive, because it suggests or requires an extra inference that goods sold are associated with the Nation.

I'm just not sure how a trademark on "Navajo" is substantively different than allowing for a trademark on "American", "Mexican" or "Canadian." It's the name of a people, nationality, or ethnicity. I'm struggling to see how such terms on their own are not generic.

Filed Under: navajo, trademark
Companies: urban outfitters