The North Face Sues the South Butt for Trademark Infringement

The North Face Apparel Company has sued the South Butt LLC for trademark infringement in Missouri.  This links to the complaint.  South Butt will argue that its mark is a parody of the North Face, while North Face is alleging multiple claims against South Butt including trademark infringement/likelihood of confusion, dilution, misrepresentation, inducement to infringe, passing off and related state law claims.

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At this point, based on the buzz around the complaint, South Butt is getting more web traffic than it ever has at www.thesouthbutt.com.  If The North Face loses the lawsuit and South Butt is allowed to continue the use of its mark, The North Face will have created increased business for South Butt that probably would not have existed had it not filed the complaint in the first place.

In Jorsache v. Hogg Wyld ltd, (LARDASHE jeans as a parody of JORDACHE jeans) the 10th Circuit held that LARDASHE did not dilute the JORDACHE mark and instead it tended to increase the public identification of plaintiff's mark with plaintiff and did not create an "unwholesome, unsavory or degrading association" context.  However, the LARDASHE case involved nearly identical marks, not nearly opposite marks.