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35 Comments
- janinekahn, on 07/13/2009, -0/+15Yes, yes it does.
- jserio, on 07/13/2009, -0/+10Huh? Can someone translate the article into English for me? I don't read jibberish.
- AmyVernon, on 07/13/2009, -1/+10No, but it makes your company look stupid.
- mostie, on 07/13/2009, -0/+9sigh
- Rhonwyn, on 07/13/2009, -0/+8That is a pretty horribly written article. Especially the end where he can't even keep track of who is suing whom.
- Cancerkitty, on 07/13/2009, -0/+7I wonder if Langendorfer bothered to register a trademark. If so, it should be a pretty easy case.
- californicator, on 07/13/2009, -0/+6Nice lawsuit!
- SweetDaddyD, on 07/13/2009, -0/+4It looks like their budget for that ad was about $7.93. I don't know if they are going to have what it takes to go against Nike's lawyers.
- randyfranklin, on 07/13/2009, -1/+4Okay, peeps, check this cuz I'm about to bring the pain....
I dated Heather (the plaintiff) for about 10 months or so last year. I helped out (volunteered, not paid) doing random stuff like taking inventory, building shelves, and hauling boxes around. I have probably seen more running skirts, shirts, adverts and signs adorned with the phrase "Does this skirt make my butt look fast?" than any normal person should. It is kind of a dorky slogan with some obvious juvenile retorts but it actually plays well as a marketing piece and especially as a tool to get customers to buy a matching set of shirt and skirt.
As far as I can remember the phrase is a registered trademark under the "sport shorts" category and under the "athletic apparel" category. So, technically it should be an easy case and Nike would technically be at fault. In my opinion there is a relatively good chance that they did rip this off but there is one issue. The phrase that Nike used is "Does this _shirt_ make my butt look fast?". It's different. I think there will be some interesting use of trademark law that will be argued on both sides. Does changing one word of a trademark/tagline invalidate the trademark's status?
Either way, I think this is clearly a David vs. Goliath sort of thing. Heather makes some really good products and the company is essentially just her and a couple part-time workers. The patterning and the factory work is all contracted out but only to American companies. Her small company is directly competing with Nike, Brooks, Reebok,etc...places that can offer similar products at a cheaper price simply because they import from factories in Malaysia or wherever.
As much as you think this is sending us all into the downward spiral of a litigious society please still keep in mind that it sucks when small businesses have to compete with mega-corporations or when large companies feel that they are above stuff like trademark law or copyright. Sometimes defending a trademark is the only way to ensure survival in the marketplace.
So,
- For the people thinking that running skirts just facilitate chafing Heather's design comes with undershorts (basically spandex tights/shorts) to reduce this chafing. This is why she can register a trademark under the "shorts" category.
- For those interested we don't really talk too much anymore (as relationships are wont to do) but I am still impressed that she has produced some really good products for running/ultrarunning/triathlon - inactive, on 07/13/2009, -0/+3This article was poorly written and I do not know if the author was trying to be funny or someone who had yet to take any formal English classes.
- RiperSnifle, on 07/13/2009, -0/+2Wow. Just.......wow.
- redux2redux, on 07/13/2009, -0/+2...and the turkey episode...
- anexanhume, on 07/13/2009, -0/+1I'll offer you no objection baby, just don't find me in contempt.
- mrmiggidude, on 07/13/2009, -0/+1I'm not sure why, but the headline reminded me a lot of the Julia Louis-Dreyfus character on Arrested Development.
- paintmeprettyx, on 07/13/2009, -0/+1*fat
- waltpsu, on 07/13/2009, -0/+1Do these pants make my ass look fat?
Nope, all those donuts you eat make your ass look fat. - Frankyfan3, on 07/13/2009, -1/+2WKRP reference FTW!
- ZackScott, on 07/13/2009, -0/+1The word litigious makes me think of Italian food, which makes me think of the word delicious, which makes me hungry. Then you combine it with the word butt, and the roller coaster ride over.
- nathanbutnet, on 07/13/2009, -0/+1Two comments:
randyfranklin is trying to rekindle and two
god I love me some bay area news. we are a damn quirky bunch - rmferrer87, on 07/13/2009, -0/+1The author needs to get over himself. He goes on way too many tangents.
- crossmr, on 07/14/2009, -0/+1"is written in a jokey, casual format." It is called ***** writing.
- jserio, on 07/13/2009, -0/+1Um, captchas haven't required upper case in years. Sounds like you have had a few lobotomy's! :-)
And regarding the article and relation to WKRP (yes, I am old enough o remember that show), that doesn't excuse the fact that his article was extremely poorly written. The only ting that made sense was the Sir Mix-A-Lot video. - kbillar, on 07/13/2009, -0/+1Running in a skirt sounds painful, I think a lot of chafing would be involved. And you might as well be running in underware at that point considering the skirt would be flying up showing your underware or lack there of if you are the skanky type.
- shawn1122, on 07/13/2009, -0/+1How does one measure the speed of an ass?
- randyfranklin, on 07/13/2009, -0/+1Negativo, on that one...I'm the one who ended the relationship and the communication. Just thought I would provide some info and at least defend her a bit from the masses who are going to write inane comments about the slogan and/or the litigiousness of the lawsuit (yeah, I noticed the $1,000,000/trademark instance).
- RiperSnifle, on 07/13/2009, -0/+1Dugg. But Nike is changing only ONE LETTER of the slogan and from what I've heard about other cases like this, that's infringement. Hope she wins.
- djAnakin, on 07/13/2009, -0/+1I will only make one comment...
"Ugh!" - MMOcker, on 07/13/2009, -0/+0The winner will receive the rights to a failed marketing campaign and an exclusive article on failblog.org
- diggduggDOOM, on 07/13/2009, -0/+0Yes, fast AND loose.
/NTTAWWT - kanojo1969, on 07/13/2009, -1/+1You must be joking. He was having a laugh at the similarity between this case and an episode of WKRP In Cinncinatti from the 80s. Although the comparison is a bit of a stretch, there's not much wrong with the writing.
Perhaps you guys don't realise that it's not a newspaper report, it's a gossip-style column/blog and like all such things is written in a jokey, casual format. He obviously thought the lawsuit was a good laugh, and was reporting it as such.
You might think that as a fulltime professional internet critic, you are better placed to judge the worth of someone's writing than the professional publishers that hae employed him for many years; but of course you would be utterly, hopelessly wrong.
As for the lawsuit, it's a pretty clear case of copyright violation, or whatever the legal term is when you steal a marketing idea form someone. I assume all the plaintiff has to do is prove they said it first, and prove that there was an association between that phrase ad their company, and Nike will be writing a fat check.
I swear to god, some days, reading these comment pages on Digg is like auto-lobotomising yourself.
Finally; how many people have been entering the Digg captcha codes with correct upper/lower case? I just found out it doesn't matter, they are *not* case-sensitive. I feel dumb but I shouldn't, it's retarded to use both cases if you don't care which is type in. - kamakazitp, on 07/13/2009, -1/+1read the article please.
- serif69, on 07/13/2009, -1/+1No. It makes your butt look fat. Keep running, fatty.
- Fhwqhgads, on 07/13/2009, -2/+1Your tax dollars at work ladies and gentlemen!
- engrishGamer, on 07/13/2009, -1/+0Lol, what butt?
- Travelsonic, on 07/13/2009, -6/+2"Does this [article of clothing] make my butt look fast?"
FAT! The phrase is "Does this [article of clothing] make my butt look fat?" not fast!
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