The Empire Strikes Back: Specialized Sues A Bike Shop Over Name

[Wyatt Earp]

just started reading on this..

 

so this bike shop has been receiving letters which they have ignored several times regarding the "use of the 'Roubaix' name on certain products. Not the shop name!

that is what they legally suppose to change , now they face the full might because they have ignored those laws, especially in Canada where the Trademark Protection Law required companies to police their trademarks, or else they will loose it.

 

so now Specialized is acting.

 

Plain and simple, yes.

They might look like bullies and they very well might be but looking at this, I see his use of the shield, the name and the application thereof to his wheels as a sly move.

 

He should be man enough to admit it.

This kind of thing happens all over the world across all industries.

 

I feel for him in that he now has to fight a big corporate and being a small business myself, I am well aware of how hard it could be on him, but without taking sides, I think he took a gap, knows this and has now resorted to social media to try and get the public to have pity on him.

 

They are well within their rights to protect their brand and as as some have pointed out they have to act and protect their trademark.

 

The young lady that has the Epic wheel building business, now she is what one could call a mensch ,my hat off to her and may she prosper beyond her wildest dreams.

[Wyatt Earp]

This town has been around since 863, and I couldnt find any lawsuit pending over the use of the town's name for any product or race.

http://flagspot.net/...s/fr-59-rb.html

 

So still, bad on you Spaz!!!

 

Ermmmm, she was referring to the word Epic.

[dev null]

Whatever way you look at it, or which side of the fence you sit at, in the end Spez is a company that sells products to consumers. And this means that consumer perception of your brand is everything.

 

They just upset a whole lot of consumers, some of them potential customers. Whether the consumers are right or wrong does not matter. As they like to say; The Customer is always right.

[RocknRolla]

there are far more important things in the world to get hyped up about than this crap, really peeps need to focus.

 

 

[MuddyMike]

Whatever way you look at it, or which side of the fence you sit at, in the end Spez is a company that sells products to consumers. And this means that consumer perception of your brand is everything.

 

They just upset a whole lot of consumers, some of them potential customers. Whether the consumers are right or wrong does not matter. As they like to say; The Customer is always right.

 

ummmm no, not even close. So lets sit back and watch every business decision get made via a crowd sourced social media frenzy? I think not. Consumer opinion does have an impact on corporate operations but does not dictate them.

 

Anyway, I am done with this thread and will enjoy a ride on my "Big Bully Corporate" Spez this afternoon and no its not for sale.

[Tatt]

Looks like Specialized have scored a huge own goal here...

 

http://www.bikebiz.com/news/read/specialized-facing-social-media-storm-after-roubaix-lawsuit-threat/015773

 

Glad I switched to Pyga!

 

Tom

[camelman]

Looks like Specialized have scored a huge own goal here...

 

http://www.bikebiz.c...t-threat/015773

 

Glad I switched to Pyga!

 

Tom

Just gotta love this quote from the article:

A trademark attorney wrote at the time: "It is unlikely that a significant number of the American population would know that Roubaix, France is the location of a well-known annual bicycle race."

 

Very true.

[raymakestv]

Has anyone ever seen this transport company that has blatantly ripped off the fox logo?

Seems like someone should sort them out. Or is that ok?

 

Edited December 9, 2013 by raymakestv

[Cellar]

Has anyone ever seen this transport company that has blatantly ripped off the fox logo?

Seems like someone should sort them out. Or is that ok?

 

 

I have a mate whose surname is Fox! I better tell him to call a lawyer...

[Captain Fastbastard Mayhem]

Has anyone ever seen this transport company that has blatantly ripped off the fox logo?

Seems like someone should sort them out. Or is that ok?

 

 

Yeah. But yet again. Is FOX and that logo registered as a trademark within South Africa? If not, then there's no problem. Also, it's in a completely different business sector.

 

Bike names and wheel names are in the same sector - bicycles and parts related to them.

[Captain Fastbastard Mayhem]

I have a mate whose surname is Fox! I better tell him to call a lawyer...

 

OMFS. It's country specific. And sector specific. If they don't have TM here, nothing they can do.

[Cellar]

OMFS.

 

I really need to remember to insert a sarcasm warning or something on this forum. I keep forgetting how strange some of you are. Sorry.

[Captain Fastbastard Mayhem]

I really need to remember to insert a sarcasm warning or something on this forum. I keep forgetting how strange some of you are. Sorry.

 

Sorry dude. I've been dealing with clients who think that Christmas break and school holidays translate into free license to cancel meetings at the last minute. So I'm afraid my sarcasm meter is WAY down the heirarchy rankings at the moment!!!

[I am not SomeBloke]

 

Yeah. But yet again. Is FOX and that logo registered as a trademark within South Africa? If not, then there's no problem. Also, it's in a completely different business sector.

 

Bike names and wheel names are in the same sector - bicycles and parts related to them.

 

We should get Adams & Adams in here. My understanding is that the mere presence of a ™ on their logo would be enough for them to protect themselves against cases like this.

[raymakestv]

Has anyone ever seen this transport company that has blatantly ripped off the fox logo?

Seems like someone should sort them out. Or is that ok?

 

 

To me it just seems this is a blatant and lazy rip-off, just took the exact logo and wrote transport instead of racing shox

[SoftTail]

http://blogs.calgaryherald.com/2013/12/09/bike-shop-owner-humbled-by-outpouring-of-support-in-fight-with-bike-giant-specialized/

 

BIKE SHOP OWNER HUMBLED BY OUTPOURING OF SUPPORT IN FIGHT WITH BIKE GIANT SPECIALIZED

 

It’s been a “crazy” and “humbling” couple of days for Dan Richter, the Cochrane, Alberta war vet who, only a few days ago, had resigned himself to changing the name of his tiny bicycle shop after a lawsuit threat from giant U.S. bike maker Specialized.

 

Now, however, Richter is feeling a little more hopeful that his Café Roubaix Bicycle Studio will remain the way he wants it.

 

After I wrote about Richter’s plight on Saturday, the story exploded across the Internet. Thousands of people spread the story on Facebook and Twitter, almost all of them in support of Richter, who claims he wasn’t trying to cash in on Specialized’s Roubaix brand of road bikes in choosing his store’s name, rather he was trying to conjure up feelings related to one the sport’s most storied and gruelling races, the century-old Paris-Roubiax, a.k.a. The Hell of the North.

 

I called Richter on Sunday and caught him trying to finish building some wheels amid a cacophony of emails and phone calls pouring in from supporters from around the world. There were lawyers offering to take up his case pro bono, cycling fans raising money on his behalf, Twitter users organizing boycotts against Specialized, and hundreds of others who placed orders for his products. He quickly sold out of Café Roubaix T-shirts, and is hurrying to print more.

 

“This is encouraging and exciting, and I’m finding it very humbling as well,” Richter told me. “I’m really amazed by the level of support. It’s overwhelming.”

 

Richter always thought he had a good case – Canada’s trade mark rules have some restrictions on place names – but he said he couldn’t afford the lawyer fees to fight it. He’s been so overwhelmed last couple of days he hasn’t even looked into the offers of legal and financial support.

 

Specialized has not made a further comment. On Friday, Larry Koury, managing director of Specialized Canada Inc., told me in an email the company is simply defending what it legally owns. “We are required to defend or lose our trademark registration,” he wrote.

 

While most of the feedback has been positive, others have criticized Richter for choosing a name in the first place that had already been registered as a trade mark in Canada.

 

Richter, who suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder from his time serving in the military in Afghanistan, has not heard from Specialized since the story broke, but he’s hopeful the company will at least be open to a compromise. He says an earlier offer to give up the Roubaix name on his brand of handmade wheels while maintaining it on his shop was rejected. He is allowing himself a little hope that the strong reaction to his story will prompt Specialized to reconsider.

 

“We were ready to roll over. Maybe now we can come to an agreement,” he said. “We’ve always been willing to compromise.”