On May 5, hair salon franchisor Fantastic Sams Franchise Corp. filed suit in the Western District against rival hair salon franchisor Regis Corp. and other defendants. Fantastic Sams alleges that Regis convinced the corporation that owned the right to develop and grant third parties FANTASTIC SAMS franchises in the Seattle-Tacoma market to sell its salons to Regis. Fantastic Sams alleges that immediately after closing on its purchase, Regis began operating the salons under its HAIR MASTER brand but failed to remove all of the FANTASTIC SAMS marks from the premises. This, Fantastic Sams alleges, is likely to confuse consumers and amounts to service mark infringement and unfair competition.
Regis has not yet filed an answer.
The case cite is Fantastic Sams Franchise Corp. v. Regis Corp., No. 08-706 (W.D. Wash.).