Although Crummett said she was willing to drop Hollister from
her jeans’ label, leaders here are concerned about the potential
impact of the clothing company’s trademarks on other Hollister
businesses.
Hollister – When Stacey Crummett purchased the once-popular denim company Rag City Blues, without much thought she replaced “Los Angeles” with “Hollister” in the logo – indicating the city where the jeans were now manufactured.
A problem arose, however, after she trademarked “Rag City Blues Hollister” in June 2006. Crummett received a letter from lawyers for the Ohio-based Abercrombie & Fitch Trading Co. – which owns the popular teenage clothing store Hollister Co. – informing her that the use of the word “Hollister” violated its pre-existing trademark on the word when associated with jeans.
“(Abercrombie and Fitch) filed a notice saying they were going to sue us if we didn’t remove it,” Crummett said. “Of course, because they’re a million-dollar beast, we have no choice. We would fold just in fighting them.”
Although Crummett said she was willing to drop Hollister from her jeans’ label, leaders here are concerned about the potential impact of the clothing company’s trademarks on other Hollister businesses.
Hollister brand tees, sweatshirts and pants are present in many American teens’ wardrobes. But there’s concern locally that the company – which has now trademarked “Hollister California Socal,” “Hollister California Fade” and “Hollister California Daybreak” all to brand new colognes – could threaten other Hollister businesses with lawsuits and harm local merchants.
The Hollister Downtown Association and San Benito County Chamber of Commerce have not taken official stances on the issue, but executive directors from both groups say they are concerned about the Abercrombie and Fitch company’s actions and plan to look into the trademarks.
“We definitely need to find out what we can do to protect the name of our community. That belongs to our community, not to Abercrombie and Fitch,” HDA Executive Director Brenda Weatherly said. “I think it’s ludicrous that someone would be able to brand a place.”
Chris Till, director of public relations and communications with Howrey LLP, the intellectual property law firm representing Abercrombie & Fitch Trading Co., said she would be “unable to comment” on the issue.
Dave Schneck, a partner with the San Jose Law Offices of Schneck and Schneck, also specializing in intellectual property law, said the Abercrombie company would have little grounds for suing the city or businesses for using “Hollister California” on any clothing items.
“Certainly any reference to the place or even clothing made from the place would fall into the doctrine of fair use,” Schneck said.
The primary factor used in trademark infringement is the likelihood of confusion, he said.
Most merchandise made locally with “Hollister” in its design likely could not be confused with being associated with the clothing company. Still, Jessica French, executive director of the San Benito County Chamber of Commerce, said the group gets “a ton of calls” – at least 15 a week – from consumers wondering about the group’s affiliation with the Hollister clothing company.
“People think that we are Hollister brand clothing,” French said.
Infringement is also specific to the product or service trademarked, Schneck said, so the company’s copyright of “Hollister California …” for the cologne name would not impede on the use of the city for other products.
“Abercrombie can certainly write their letters and that will institute an annoyance, but there’s little legal ground,” Schneck said. “Hollister is the name of the place, and certainly Abercrombie and Fitch can’t trademark away that.”
Still, Crummett said that Abercrombie and Fitch is such a large company that any type of lawsuit could threaten her small business.
“We have stuff that says “Hollister, California,” and it’s only a matter of time …” Crummett said. “We’re guessing they’re going to come back.”
French said the chamber will research its rights. City Attorney Stephanie Atigh, who was out of the office Wednesday afternoon, is looking into the city’s rights as well, Weatherly said.
“We’re basically just researching it to see what’s going on and make sure that we protect the businesses of the city,” French said.
