Adidas get nasty in trade mark dispute

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Last year, an Adidas application for the trade mark adiZero (a sub-brand which includes a highly publicized series of shoes featuring Chicago Bulls star, Derrick Rose) was refused by the US Patent and Trademark Office because it was to similar to an earlier trademark Add A Zero, owned by a church, Zion-based Christian Faith Fellowship Church.

The church trademarked the phrase “Add A Zero” in 2006 as part of a campaign to boost the congregation’s donations to church. If members gave $100 annually, Pastor E. James Logan was encouraging them too “add a zero” to that amount and make it $1,000.

Adidas of course appealed and when they lost, requested that the church’s trademark registration be cancelled on lack of use grounds, given that in some years, the church may only sell two or three items with the slogan.

Adidas offered the church $5,000 to give up its trademark. The church rejected the offer and then wrote to Derrick Rose asking that he intervene to sort the issue out.

Just goes to show, if you are big, rich and don’t care about the rights of others, you can pretty much be as nasty as you want.  And no, that is not about Derrick Rose!!

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