Adidas Suffers Defeat in Trademark Dispute with Church
In a series of intriguing legal battles, the SPI Group (Spirits International), founded in 1989, is facing off against the Christian Faith and Fellowship Church in disputes over the Stolichnaya trademark. This case is separate from the previous one involving adidas.
In the United States, trademarks protect words, phrases, and logos used to identify the source of goods or services. Both trademarks in question, Stoli and Stolichnaya, were registered for the same category of merchandise, including shirts and caps.
The church, located within five miles of the Illinois-Wisconsin border, argued that selling two hats counts as interstate commerce due to its parishioners including both Illinois and Wisconsin residents. However, the U.S.P.T.O.'s Trademark Trial and Appeal Board initially cancelled the church's trademark due to non-use, as the church had only sold two hats.
The church's victory is not final yet, as the case has been sent back to the TTAB for consideration of other arguments raised by adidas. The Trademark Trial and Appeal Board (TTAB) and courts generally require credible evidence of continuous and actual commercial use rather than minimal or token use to establish use in commerce under the Lanham Act.
Meanwhile, in a separate case, Russia's state-owned company, Sojuzplodoimport (Союзплодоимпорт), won a case in a Dutch court, ruling that the company is the rightful owner of the Stoli and Stolichnaya trademarks in Belgium, the Netherlands, and Luxembourg.
This victory comes after a 15-year legal battle to reclaim the Stoli trademark, a case won in a court in the Netherlands. It's worth noting that copyright protects literary and artistic works of authorship, while patents protect inventions, and trademarks identify the source of goods or services.
Interestingly, in the U.S., the Federal trademark law requires that a trademark must be used in interstate commerce to be registered. In 2009, adidas tried to register a federal trademark "Adizero," but the application was denied due to the similarity with the church's trademark "Add a Zero." The Federal Circuit ruled that even a small sale should count as "use in commerce" because there is no de minimus exception in the Lanham Act that defines the "use in commerce" requirement.
The nuances of trademark law in the United States and Canada were also discussed in the article, highlighting the importance of consistent, bona fide, and publicly connected use of a trademark to avoid cancellation for non-use.
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- The church's argument that selling two hats counts as interstate commerce due to its parishioners including both Illinois and Wisconsin residents, demonstrates the complexities that can arise in the business sector when legal services are required to determine the extent of commerce in disputes about trademarks in the industry, especially when it comes to finance and business operations across state borders.
- In a different context, the SPI Group's legal battles regarding the Stolichnaya trademark demonstrate the intricacies of trademark law, particularly in international finance and business transactions, as demonstrated by the company's successful lawsuits in Dutch courts to reclaim the Stoli and Stolichnaya trademarks in Europe.
