Jaguar Shoes

15 mei 2012

Jaguar Shoes is an independent venue in trendy East London. A place where many artists, musicians, etc. come together for a drink, exhibition etc. Jaguar Shoes has now ended up in a legal conflict (opposition) with Jaguar. In the press release of Jaguar Shoes all the famous trademark infringement cliches are pulled out. First of all the argument for which every big company should be aware of: the we-are-small-and-you-are-so-big-argument. The title of the press release is “Corporate Giant apply pressure to independent London Arts Organisation.” The press release also widely reports the importance of Jaguar Shoes and that this family run business can use every penny instead of spending it to lawyers. The message ends with “Jaguar are instead applying pressure by filing against a business which supports creativity, artists and the local economy”. In short, Jaguar is against art, artists, etc.

This case is a good example and lesson for big companies to accompany trademark infringement cases in public. With press releases as shown above the public can turn their back to the trademark while in this case Jaguar is just defending its trademark. What really happened was that Jaguar Shoes applied for a trademark application in the UK of the trademark JAGUAR SHOES for several broad formulated classes. Of course, Jaguar is not against art and probably not against the use of the name Jaguar Shoes for a pub and venue, but it is forced to protect its trademark against dilution, otherwise the registry will end up full with Jaguar trademarks for identical and similar products and services.

An interesting element in this case is that anyone can fill a petition directed to the examiner of the opposition. Of course, this is a one-point-of-view-petition with a not very relevant question. However, it is a easy and cheap way to obtain some sort of a market survey.