Stussy Inc. Sues Over Logo and Trademark Infringement
Stussy Inc., which doesn’t think imitation is the greatest form of flattery, is suing a Los Angeles company for playing with the Stussy logo.
On April 21, Fresh Jive Manufacturing Inc. will be shipping a shirt line the company said bears a parody of the Stussy logo. The controversial shirt depicts Fresh Jive’s name written in the graffiti-style logo that Stussy has used since 1992.
Irvine, Calif.–based Stussy, which said it does not believe the shirt is a parody, filed a lawsuit in U.S. District Court in Los Angeles on Dec. 10, 2004, against Fresh Jive for trademark infringement and injury to its business reputation. The lawsuit demands that Fresh Jive stop manufacturing the shirt. No trial date has been set.
Rick Klotz, president of Fresh Jive, said the suit will not deter him from distributing what he believes is a well-aimed parody.
“It’s more about principle,” he said. “It’s costing me a lot of money to litigate this.”
Klotz contends that the use of Stussy’s logo is a parody that is protected by the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution. The Fresh Jive design is part of the $3 million company’s “Mad Parody” series, which has used logos from other apparel companies, including Quiksilver Inc. and Obey. Quiksilver sent Fresh Jive a cease-and-desist order after a shirt line satirizing Quiksilver’s logo was shipped on March 15, said Aaron Levant, president of the Agenda showroom, which sells Fresh Jive.
According to Stussy President Frank Sinatra, no relation to the entertainer, this lawsuit is wrapped up with the survival of his company. “We have to protect our brand name throughout the world,” said Sinatra, who would not reveal the company’s annual revenues. He said that if his company fails to define and protect its trademarks, it gives permission to anybody to use them. There are more than 40 Stussy stores worldwide.
Both Fresh Jive and Stussy have created designs referring to iconic logos in the past. In the early 1990s, Fresh Jive printed a T-shirt bearing its company name with a logo that looked like that of the Tide detergent brand. Stussy manufactured T-shirts and accessories using the company name on logos looking like those of fashion icons Chanel and Louis Vuitton. Stussy’s in-house counsel, John Sommer, said these former designs are unrelated to the current case. —Andrew Asch
