The US District Court for the Central District of California is currently deliberating in the case between global clothing company Patagonia and American drag queen ‘Pattie Gonia’ concerning alleged trade mark infringement, unfair competition, and dilution of a trade mark (the US equivalent to the UK’s tortious passing off offence).
The Court heard in 2022 that Patagonia and Pattie Gonia had agreed upon commercial arrangements for the latter not to manufacture and/or advertise products using their drag persona’s name, and viewed evidence that showed clothing and merchandise displaying the name ‘PATTIE GONIA’ had been produced and advertised for sale. Patagonia argue this is contrary to the attempted pre-action settlement discussions, in which Pattie Gonia had called “clothing merch […] a moot point” while simultaneously re-stocking clothing on their e-commerce website. Patagonia further argues that this is not the first instance of Patagonia defending its brand in litigation, and that it has landed successful judgments in each of those cases.
Consequently, Patagonia are seeking injunctive relief against Pattie Gonia, as well as an order for the US Patent and Trade Mark Office to reject Pattie Gonia’s application for their own name. Interestingly, Patagonia claim only $1 in nominal damages, which would appear to be an olive branch to Pattie Gonia and their legal team so as to not cause further strain in their relationship. It will be interesting to see whether Patagonia succeeds in its claim, given it has alleged infringement, passing off and unfair competition on both state and federal levels, or if some form of settlement might yet be reached between it and Pattie Gonia.
If you have any questions on the above, or if you need any advice or support in respect of your own Intellectual Property, please do not hesitate to contact the team at McDaniels Law on 0191 281 4000 or legal@mcdanielslaw.com.
