Rumour: Vans and Quiksilver in wild legal war over use of checkers on Quik’s “The Original” surf trunks!

Spicoli vs Wright!

Rumour to hand via the miracle of inside sources is that Vans has taken the legal sword to Quiksilver for that company’s re-release of their trunks, The Original, which feature a checkered stripe running down each femur. 

Vans, makers of checkered slip-on shoes ever since ol Pauly Van Doren, god rest his soul, saw skaters using Sharpies to draw ‘em on their kicks in their seventies, is fiercely protective of what they regard as their company’s trademark. 

And, last year, the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office sorta agreed with Vans after the company filed an application to register the checkerboard mark, on shoes, on pants, sweats, trousers, leggings, capris or shorts. 

Sorta ‘cause even though they told ‘em checkers “do not function as a trademark to indicate the source of applicant’s clothing” the USPTO granted ‘em the registration to use it on “apparel, namely, bottoms.” 

Ten days after that, Nike, a company with a thousand times more legal heft that Vans, said hell no, arguing that since the eighties it “has sold and continues to sell” apparel products that include “checkerboard patterns of various sizes, shapes, and colors placed in various locations on shirts and pants, such as the front, side, back, and inside thereof.”

Anyway, our Quiksilver source, hunkered over their (note use of pronoun) machine in Huntington Beach there, ears popping, says Vans came after ‘em, hard, following The Originals campaign.

Tried to take ‘em to court but lost ‘cause Quiksilver has been running that same print for forty years. 

And, says our source, allegedly, Vans told ‘em they will not sponsor any Quiksilver surfer with shoes and that Quik can’t use any Vans products in shoots or marketing. 

Good to see a lil fire between companies now that Quik and Billabong, once the most vicious of enemies, sit cheek by jowl in the same Huntington Beach office, same masters etc.