A battle of the ugly!
You’ll remember just two months ago, Yvon Chouinard’s sensational decision to give away Patagonia, the company he spent the last fifty years building into the multi-billion dollar operation it is today.
“He who dies with the least toys wins,” said Yvon. “Because the more you know, the less you need… I was in Forbes magazine listed as a billionaire, which really, really pissed me off. I don’t have $1 billion in the bank. I don’t drive Lexuses.”
Instead of selling Patagonia or taking it public, Yves, who is eighty-three, transferred his family’s ownership of the company into a trust and no-for-profit, “created to preserve the company’s independence and ensure that all of its profits — some $100 million a year — are used to combat climate change and protect undeveloped land around the globe.”
Wild etc.
Now, only onth month month after hitting WalMat with a lawsuit for allegedly infringing its trademarked logo of a trout, Patagonia is suing The Gap for illegally copying the “iconic” snapped flap pocket seen on its fleece outerwear since 1985 and included in exhibitions at New York’s Museum of Modern Art and London’s Victoria & Albert Museum.
Patagonia said Gap is “wilfully and deliberately selling fleece jackets that mimic its flap pocket and rectangular ‘P-6’ logo without permission.”
Patagonia said it had warned Gap previously for copying its gear and said, “(The) adoption of designs and logos bearing even more similarity cannot have occurred by accident.”