Starbucks May Oppose Seattle's Rat City Rollergirls Trademark Application
May 31, 2008
Michael Atkins in Seattle Updates, Trademark Infringement, Trademark Trial and Appeal Board

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Confusingly similar? Likely to cause dilution?

Sorry for the delay, but this hit the media while I was at INTA…. Starbucks Corp. has been granted an  extension of time to oppose the Rat City Rollergirls, LLC’s application to register its design mark used in connection with “Coordination of recreational sporting opportunities for individuals who wish to participate in team league sports; Promoting sports competitions and/or events of others.”

The Rat City Rollergirls are Seattle’s roller derby league.

The Seattle Post-Intelligencer quotes a Starbucks spokesperson as saying: “We haven’t opposed it — we have asked for more time to look at it.” She added: “There’s a lot of room for us to work together to find a mutually beneficial conclusion here.”

The paper also quotes Rat City’s lawyer as saying: “The Starbucks lawyer said that the girls on the roller derby team look scary, and she didn’t think, in her own personal opinion, (that) Starbucks would want to associate themselves with the scary characters of Rat City Rollergirls.”

Starbucks now has until July 16 to oppose the application.

Other media reports here, here, and here.

Article originally appeared on Michael Atkins (http://seattletrademarklawyer.com/).
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