Lacoste Bullies Dental Firm Over Logo, Gets Bitchslapped with Fine
Gotta love a logo battle. French firm Lacoste just lost one against a dental practice in UK-based Gloucestershire, which uses the image of a crocodile to promote its service.
The battle raged for four years between the goliathan clothing company and the practice, with Lacoste arguing the use of the crocodile could confuse people into thinking the dentist office is Lacoste-endorsed.
In terms of logo logic, we'd associate a crocodile with root canals over polo shirts any day. And apparently the courts agree. Lacoste now owes the dental practice 1450 pounds (the currency) to cover its legal costs.
Last year in Beijing Lacoste won a trademark battle against three Chinese companies -- the emperors of bootleg! -- raking in $98,700 in damages.
Which begs the question -- if the French firm ain't shy of the global court system, why hasn't it gone after Crocs yet?
Comments
The $4,110 is not a fine - it's common practice in Europe to have the looser of the case pay the court costs.