While few people would mix up a Porsche and Croc shoe, word this week is that Porsche has sued Crocs, in Germany, for infringing upon one of their trademarks. You see, there's a Porsche model called the Cayman, and Crocs have a shoe design also called Cayman.
So Porsche has sued Crocs Europe BV to protect their trademark "Cayman," seeking to enjoin Crocs from using the name and to recoup the attorney fees incurred from the proceedings. While I first spotted this story on
msn.com, the story was really
broken by the blog Footnoted who discovered it while reviewing recently filings from Crocs.
It seems highly unlikely that the Cayman product line was so-named to capitalize on the sports car since it's much more pun-tastic to refer to the
cayman (or caiman), crocodillians from Central and South America that are similar to alligators.
Footnoted points out that this suit would likely be quickly thrown out in the U.S., but is receiving some play since it's in Germany (where Porsche is based).
Maybe it's because law school has completely warped my brain and definition of "funny," but I got a chuckle out of seeing this story. It's definitely more fun than most of the cases I've been reading!
What do you think about this suit? Do you think it's funny, or do you think it actually has some legs to stand on?
Comments (5)
It's stupid. You know why they want to sue? It's not about the name.
It's about money.
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vote for me (:
lol not the brightest but big companies are always out to protect their brand.
It is porsche's trademark, I am not really familiar with trademark law, so I don't know if intent to benefit off of porsche is required for porsche to win the lawsuit, but if I had to guess I bet it isn't required.
I thought a company can't sue on copyright/trademark infringement of a name when they are selling a product that have nothing to do with each other... and especially since the name isn't made up, its referring to an animal. If i am wrong, does that mean caymens can sue porsche since the gators had the name first?
I think the only legit case of this has been Champagne since it originated in the city of Champagne in France.
But this is funny to me too!