Amber Kotrri, a designer and boutique owner in Darlington, England, grabbed media attention last month when she won a trademark dispute with global fashion company Zara.
Now he hopes to inspire other small businesses to fight the conglomerates. The BBC spoke to her and other small business owners about her experiences.
Kotrri represented herself, rather than using lawyers, when she faced the trademark court.
Armed only with her file of notes and a firm belief that she was right, the boutique’s owner House of Zana faced Zara and won.
The trademark registration supervisor agreed that any similarities between his fashion brand and the fashion store giant were “too insubstantial and ephemeral”.
Since then, she has been inundated with messages from other small business owners who have also received letters from Zara’s lawyers.
“The letter says that the ‘company’s firm preference is to resolve this matter amicably,’ but there is no middle ground, there is no chance to discuss anything,” Kotrri says.
“You only have a couple of weeks to sign saying you’ll withdraw your trademark application and then another three months to ‘phase out’ your brand name, that’s the only option.”
Trademarks
Rebranding a company is not cheap: You have to change the packaging, the merchandise, the websites and the social networks, it all adds up.
Juhi Jain, from Jaipur, India, named her handmade shoe company Zarsá, an amalgamation of the Urdu word Zar and the Hindi affix “sa,” which she says means “like gold,” after the thread she uses in its seams.
Jain spent “around $32,000” and spent two years locked in a legal battle after Zara initially sent her a notice of opposition in 2017, and then again when it was renamed Zarsalife.
He finally settled on the name Sozan Jaipur.
“There is no price that can be put on the mental and emotional trauma and depression I went through during this process,” Jain said.
“I never got any compensation for the legal cost or the merchandise I had to dispose of.”
Trademarks are extremely important to businesses, they can be bought and sold like other assets, or licensed to third parties, which can make them significant revenue generators.
In the UK, big brands employ teams to monitor the use of similar names through the Intellectual Property and Companies Office.
Mark Caddle, a partner at European intellectual property firm Withers & Rogers, said trademarks stop unauthorized use of copied or competing trademarks, which can confuse consumers.
He cautions that any small business that ignores these Zara rebrand demand letters that they may face further legal action.
“If the letter does not get a response, it is likely that a trademark opposition will be filed with the UK Intellectual Property Office, as happened in the House of Zana case,” he says.
“Depending on what happens with this, the brand owner may decide whether to file a trademark infringement action in court, with the goal of enforcing a rebrand.”
Zara is owned by Inditex, one of the largest fashion distribution groups in the world. with more than 6,400 stores of different brands, including Bershka, Pull & Bear and Massimo Dutti, and employs more than 160,000 people.
“It is the responsibility of the group to protect its brands and trademarks where there is a risk that customers, or any other interested party, will be confused,” an Inditex spokesperson said.
“We always seek to avoid legal proceedings related to trademark registration whenever possible.”
Other cases
Leeds graffiti artist Steve Powell, or Ste Rex, sold streetwear under the STRX brand.
But it received a legal letter last July from clothing brand Stradivarius, also owned by Inditex, saying it was too similar to its STR Teen line.
“I hadn’t heard of Stradivarius,” says Powell. “I thought it was a violin company, and I said, ‘how dare they contact me about the similarity of names?’”
He said he didn’t want to “lose money” so he “sent some emails” before changing the name of his clothing line to REXNTRIC.
Another businessman contacted by Zara was Moien Tayari, from London, who ran a dried fruit and spice company called Zaravand, named after his wife’s birthplace in Iran.
Tayari says that business experts advised him to “forget about fighting a big company” because it would cost too much.
He spent about $4,300 on “some legal letters” trying to preserve the name, but with costs spiraling, he ultimately opted to change his company name to Zoetic Ltd.
He says he doesn’t think it’s cool that big companies can “bully small companies” because of minor differences in a trademark, emphasizing that he found the process emotional and exhausting.
“It exhausts you,” says Tayari.
“It is another obstacle to what you have already achieved. For us it meant throwing away the labels he had just ordered at a cost of US$650.”
“It was almost like having to restart the business.”
In the UK the Federation of Small Businesses (FSB) called for a government-backed resolution service for cases like these.
An FSB spokesperson says that small businesses need more support when it comes to protecting intellectual property and when a dispute arises, the agreement should be “simple, quick and easy to obtain.”
He notes that a trade dispute resolution service could “evaluate potential disputes at an early stage,” potentially avoiding costly legal fights.
The Intellectual Property Office (IPO), which has jurisdiction for trademark registration, said it was aware of the issues for small businesses and welcomed suggestions that would make disputes “easier and faster.”
Nevertheless, Not all trademark disputes cause heartbreak and disappointment.
In May, the owner of the Star Inn pub in the town of Vogue, England, was surprised when he received a letter from Vogue, the fashion magazine, saying that he had been alerted to the pub’s name through the Companies Office.
The publisher, Condé Nast, later apologized, handing the pub a framed version of the apology “from one Vogue to another”, explaining that further investigation by his team had shown that “we didn’t need to send that letter this time around.” ”.
For Kotrri, her fight against Zara was born out of a determination not to have to explain to her children that she gave in because “someone older told me to.”
And his advice to others in the same situation is: “You know your business best, you know the meaning behind the name, so fight for it and don’t give up.”
Your House of Zana brand will now be registered.
Zara declined to comment on Kotrri’s case, but said she “continues to wish” her and her business “future success.”
The company could still appeal against the decision, but for now Kotrri is designing her next collection in peace. (YO)
Source: Eluniverso
Paul is a talented author and journalist with a passion for entertainment and general news. He currently works as a writer at the 247 News Agency, where he has established herself as a respected voice in the industry.
