A Missouri teenager frustrated with his classmates’ sheep-like following of a popular clothing line came up with his own parody apparel and now faces a lawsuit for trademark infringement, reports ABC News.
Jimmy Winkelmann, 18, said he’s not intimidated by threats of a lawsuit from The North Face Apparel Company over his 2-year-old company The South Butt, LLC.
Winkelmann said he has no intention of complying with the cease and desist request sent last month by lawyers for The North Face Apparel Corp., saying his business — The South Butt LLC — poses no threat to it.
“I was like, ‘How did they even find me?'” Winkelmann said. “It was ridiculous.”
The 18-year-old college student said local media coverage of the blossoming legal battle has dramatically increased sales of The South Butt T-shirts, fleece jackets and shorts, so much so that his entire inventory sold out this week within 24 hours.
In an 8/14 letter sent to Winkelmann’s St. Louis-area home, Jordan LaVine, a lawyer for The North Face, wrote that the companies’ logos are similar enough to possibly cause “consumer confusion as to the source, sponsorship or affiliation of particular problems and services that could dilute or tarnish the distinctive quality of the famous and distinctive TNFAC marks.”
