Comparing Parody Cases and Conclusion

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And instead of taking it down, they say that she just restocked her merchandise Welcome to the Bravo Docket, where your favorite reality TV drama meets the courtroom I'm Cessie, and I'm Angela, and we're two attorneys with a passion for pop culture here to dive into the juiciest lawsuits and legal battles in the world of reality TV. Whether you're here for the facts, fun, or just some law one hundred one, let's get into today's case Hello everyone. welcome back to the Bravo Docket. Today on the Docket, we are departing from our Bravo cinematic universe jumping into to the world of drag to discuss a case that I think has come up on everyone's social media. pllenty of you guys DMed us about it. And it's the Patagonia versus Patty Gonia tremark dispute. This does have some overlap with RuPaul's Drag race, which we'll get into. So there is a reality television aspect there. but it's a fascinating case discussing when a company should be protecting its rights and enforcing its rights versus when it should just capitulate and give in pressure It's interesting. so we will dive into that and go through it all. Was there anything you found fascinating as you went through? Oh, just all the different examples. The Jimmy Winkleman, the fifteen year old high school student that created the parody apparel line called The South Butt, and then Patagonia has been very good about protecting their trademarks. and then just some of the other cases There were other companies involved, the Louis Vuitton case. Because of the way this law is structured in the United States, it just creates for some interesting cases and interesting examples. Yeah, for sure. Before dive into that, I did want to mention I just got back from New York literally two hours ago. Yesterday, I went to a watchatch What happppens live taping and it was awesome Everyone always says how small they are. Truly tiny, tiny, tiny. It's two rows of guests And then you know how you see on TV, there will always be like a special guest sitting in the front. I thought that was a whole separate row of people. It's just two seats just pop in and sit in those two seats in the front row And then it's two rows of guests only equaling twenty people. It's so small And then before you're gonna like this, before the recording starts, Andy comes out. He is so friendly, so nice, and he does a Q andA. He answers anything anyone has a question about. So it's similar to Bravo Kon, obviously a more intimate setting so he can be a little bit more honest and relaxed. You're not allowed to record it. So people were asking questions. They were like, hi, I'm so and so and so and so from South Carolina and blah, blah blah, this is my question. So I'm like, Hey, I'm Sessie. I'm one of the hosts of the podcast, The Bravo Dock at The the legal one. He's like, o, yeah, yeah, yeah, I know that one Avery was like, whyy didn't say my name? becausecause Avery sitting next to me I't want to for an intro. And so my question was, hey, with Lisa Hakstein's recent arrest, like were you bummed that the cameras weren't rolling for Miami? And he very honestly said He does not like all the legal issues that come up on the show, which is fair. Yeah. very fair because alic as an executive producer to not want that to be a part of their show. Right. He was like, I'm ready for it to go away. And I was like, yes, it's given us a lot of content If it goes away, we have day jobs, it's fine. I'm not taking offense to you saying that. He did jokingly say I wish your podcast would go away. But then he came back and said, but you're doing something very important and recognized the importance of the podcast. And I didn't have all day with him, but it's not like we're on here bashing his cast members or the shows. We're very fair asking that anyone go commit crimes or get entangled in legal disputes. It's just a part of life. It happens. evenven to professionals that aren't on reality television, lawsuits happen Divorces happen People get tickets It happens, we're not wishing it into the world re just covering it and you know, not our fault. But I get where he was coming from. I understand why Andy The legal issues complicate the narrative that they're creating, it complicates filming, it complicates the cast dynamics. I get all that. But the whole point of our podcast is to make the law more accessible to everyday people in an interesting way. And this stuff is going to happen, whether we're covering it or not So completely. We're using it to increase legal literacy and help people understand how the legal system works because you don't really get that. You're not taught in even in high school, basic constitutional rights, really, even. You don't know how a bankruptcy works. You don't know how the divorce process works. And most people have no concept of this until they get entangled in it and have to hire a lawyer. And if you don't have a friend that's a lawyer or a relative that's a lawyer, you can ask questions from How else are you going to get this information. So I get where it's not necessarily fun for him, especially because we've probably covered so many lawsuits that he was named in. But I think what we're doing is important. Yeah, and he did say, he did say what you're doing is important. I think he's coming from a place of this changes the brand and what Real Housewives was supposed to be. Not us, but just recent actions. We could call it a brand dilution, not through any fault of ours or Anyone who's watching, it becomes a different show. It changes the dynamics when it's an arrest happening on camera O someone being accused of insurance fraud. It just changes the type of show that it is. It's still exciting. Also. then after that, someone asked if Jen Shaw would be coming back or if he would be open to it. and he was just like, abbsolutely not. Oh than that sort of confirms what we've seen before and read before. He said, abbsolutely not. I think the way Karen handled When she came back with the alcoholism was very different from the way Jen Shaan came back and came at it when she returned and he was like, I think her crime was like the worst of the worst. Yes, essentially stealing from He didn't mention elderly, but he was saying people who aren't well off that are trying to make money. He said it's the worst of the worst crime. Completely agree with him there. And he said and I wouldn't want to be paying her restitution. Yeah. becausecause that's where I'ing her. Yeah. So yeah. That's my tea. Good. Well, I'm glad she's not gonna be back on our screens on Bravo That makes me feel better. Yeah. Anyway, Andy knows L Brava Dgget. How could he not? Really cool experience. The episode will drop on Thursday, and I was right behind the people who were asking questions. Who were the guests? Emily Blunt and Coleman Domingo. Oh cool. So they're promoting their new film, the Alien movie. So yeah, no Bravo Lbs and they asked for questions ahead of time, but I'm like, I don't know anything about this movie. I don't know enough about the two of them. I love Emily Blunt as an actress, but I just didn't have anything Before you go, they make you go an hour early and they provide drinks, free drinks. Oh that's nice. Lot of tequila at one PM. You're plying me with alcohol. I'm just kidding. And you know, they want to do it. So if people want to be a little bit more active and spunky, They provide the alcohol. they don't force it on you. W to make that clear, but they were going around and trying to find people to ask questions. They were like, did you come up with a question for them? I'm like, I'm willing to ask one, but no, I have no idea What I could ask either of them. Anyway, so we were right behind the person asking the question. So we'll be on watchatch what What happppens live on Thursday Which this will be out after. That's really cool. Well, if anyone's watching any clips from this episode, I am recording it from Kentucky in a camper in the Kentucky horse park. I am competing with my horse and working remotely. so I also had to turn the air conditioning off were recording this. So it's gonna get real hot in here So I might be speaking more quickly than I normally do if I get hot. So I wanted to start by talking about what trademark is. A trademark, it's essentially a brand. It's a word, a logo, package design. It's a source indicator, a source identifier for a particular product or service It's what lets consumers know who made this product? who is giving this service? And then they form an opinion in their mind about this brand. And that's how they continue being consumers. You find an interest in a brand You develop an association with it positive or negative, and then you decide whether or not to keep purchasing from them or not So when someone infringes on that right or is using a similar name, it can affect your brand examples, Oreo We know what anoro is If I was to sell Oreos, just cookies that I baked out of my kitchen and call them Oreos, obviously not an Oreo. Obviously would be diluting their mark. It would be reframing their reputation because I can't bake. they would taste horrible Have it your way. We know that. That's a slogan Cola bottle, that's a trade dress. We've talked about that before where it's the design, the look and feel of the product. that's all within trademark as well. And yeah, it's just to identify the source of a product. So when you hear it You know who's behind it. You know what to expect when you see that product or when you consume that product For example, the Nike swoosh. You can't just put that on another pair of shoes. That would be an obvious violation. You identify that with Nike or Air Jordan's, the very specific Air Jordan symbol. You can't just copy that and put that on something else. That makes sense. And you can't sell it. If you wanted to make your own Nikees and just wear them, fine. No one's going to come after you for that. It's not in Commerce So you're not really a direct competitor by any means. You're just wearing your own little faux Nike. But if you were to sell it, then you're for sure infringing trademark rights So in the US., you can establish trademark rights in two ways. The first is just by using it. By using it, you have a common law right to the mark. The second way is to apply for a federal registration based on an existing use or having a bonafide intention to use the mark in commerce So while registration won't issue until you use it, you have to use it. You cannot register a mark and then not use it to sell something in commerce. There has to be a commercial use. And then a benefit. So you have priority rights from the date the application is filed, meaning if someone were to challenge it, the court is going to see who was using it in commerce first. So if you were to register it, you have priority rights from the date the application is filed constructive not is Basically, you're putting everyone on notice that I'm using this mark. You don't have to be an attorney to do this. You can search trademarks onn the US. Patent and Trademark Office website, very easy to do. You want to look at what Nike has registered. You go on the website, everyveryone is on notice of what marks are registered You also have a presumptive evidence of the validity of the registration and ownership of the mark and of the owner's exclusive right to use the mark. so people know You've registered it It's yours to use good. Is it possible to lose your rights? Yes, trademark owners sometimes stop using a particular mark or a set of marks without any intention to resume use. So that's one of the main ways you lose your rights to that mark. There are also ways to lose rights to the mark unintentionally One of the biggest ones is to license the mark to others without controlling the quality of the licensee' goods or services. I've had a case where this happened with ghost kitchens where someone licens the use of their name and image to a ghost kitchen and then the ghost kitchen ends up selling Disgusting food And you can unintentionally lose the right to your mark that way Another way is to misuse the mark or fail to police the mark, which is really important here So much so that it ceases to indicate source. I want to read more about that though. Yeah, because we're talking about Patagonia and they have been very proactive about enforcing their mountain Silhouette logo and their signature snap tee lease trade dress. And so we have some examples of that. Yeah. so if you're not enforcing your rights. if you're not going out, sending a cease and desist letter, filing a lawsuit, it could complicate future litigations. A court can look at that. See that you're not policing the use of your mark, S that you're allowing third parties to use it and find that you don't have a right to continue exclusively using your mark And that's the way the law structured. That isn't the company being evil in order to protect that, you have to actively protect it. So you have to actively enforce your exclusive right to those marks, right? It's not as strict. So it's not like if one person's using your mark and you don't send them a cease and desist letter, you're screwed, it has to be a pretty strong big broad use. it's not automatic. It's not like, oh, you didn't send a cease and desist letter, you're screwed. you lose your mark.. That's not how it works. I think some people overstate how that enforcement R pecially brands, they're like, o, if I don' sue, I lose it But that's not necessarily so if you're not policing it in such a way that it's diluting your brand basically and causing consumer confusion, then a court in a future litigation is less likely to find that you have exclusive rights to that brand. Got it. I did want to give an example, well not necessarily an example, but really all this is boiling down to is consumer confusion. The only reason trademark matters is because of consumers. You want consumers to know where their products are coming from An example. I don't know if you knew this, but someone created an Instagram account called Bravo Docket about a month ago. No. Someone DMed me and said, Hey, there's an account called Bravo Docket. I'm assuming you're not behind this. And I said, abbsolutely not. I tried commenting on the account and asked, Hey, can you take this down? They blocked us from commenting So I posted on our stories. If you don't change your name, I reserve the right to enforce all rights. That's all they said. Yeah. I was being nice. I'm not gonna sue this person. I had three posts about Summer House, but they immediately dammed me and they were like, Ohh, I didn't know. I didn't know. Why would you use the name Bravo Docket? You don't just come up with that yourself. Yeah, we worked really hard on coming up with that name We still love over our notes and everything from it. Yeah. And the person was like, I'm in law school. You should be nicer to me. It was like, I'm not being mean, but you can't play smart and stupid at the same time. I know why you created this account. Which is basically what Patagonia's argument is, but we'll get there. Yeah Anyway, the reason I was trying to get this person to change the name and they ended up changing it is because I didn't want people to think that we were behind that account R posting random gossip and memes about summer House, which just isn't Our brand on threads, kind of is because I like being a little bit funnier on threads. Yeah, we're much more colloquial on threads. Yes. forormal on Instagram. So I just didn't want people to think that like we were behind a jokey meme account. It would make our account less distinctive. If we didn't enforce that, tons of other brands would think that they could use our name too. just an example. But that's why it's important to enforce your rights. This is why companies like Nike and Disney aggressively police their marks If you didn't know, if you use Disney's name on Etsy and a product that you're selling, of expect that listing to be down in like a week. Disney's very aggressive. Vigorously enforce their rights. It's also important because you don't want a party later on to argue in reasonable delay, like latches acquiescence saying that you effectively consented to their use the stopel that they relied on your silence to use the mark. The defenses don't automatically win, but they do make enforcement harder. So should be aware of that You've heard me talk about how obsessed I am with my dog buddy. And if you're equally obsessed with your dog, why haven't you switched your dog over to Ollie They deliver fresh human grade food and five drool worthy flavors so your dogs can live their best life You could say Ollie feeds that obsession that you have with your dog. Ollie's fresh recipes are developed by real chefs with gut friendly ingredients that support better digestion, energy, skin health, and poops, with flavors like fresh beef with sweet potatoes or fresh turkey with blueberries. 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So make your summer wardrobe feel easier o to quins. com slash docket for free shipping on your order and three hundred and sixty five day returns. Now available in Canada too. So go to quintince d. com slash docket for free shipping and three hundred sixty five day returns. Quintince d. com slash docket So who is Patty Gonia? Wid Wiley is a photographer and LGBTQ plus advocate who began using the name Patty Gonia in twenty eighteen She would post hiking photos, videos in full drag to Instagram and to TikTok. which is impressive. her hiking on boulders in high heels. She has signature red hair, a mustache. She has a look. But early on, there were some profiles that noted that Patie used that name because it was a twist on the name Patagonia. So she quickly established herself as a queen whose special focus was championing nature and getting queer people to engage with the great outdoors. Yeah, I followed her on TikTok. She would hike and drag and I thought she was really cool. Well, she is really cool. Yeah. She co founded an environmental organization, the Outdoorist Oath In twenty twenty five, her organization fund raised one million dollars for eight nonprofits by hiking one hundred miles. full drag along the California coastline. She has garnered, it might be more now, over two million followers across Instagram and TikTok And people believe that she and Patagonia have some interest by the same audience. It's kind of a clash of similar stated values. Patagonia is a company whose mission they say is quote, we're in business to save our home planet. And then Patagonia is a prominent climate activist. And then they're suing her over a pun, but really ostensively Patagonia and Patagonia have the same sort of stated goals. So there's a bit of a conflict there. I do want to mention this. so there was a prior dispute. It's mentioned in the lawsuit and I wanted to read from the lawsuit as well In twenty twenty two, Patty, Gonia and. Patagonia reached an informal agreement whereby she could use the Patagonia name for activism, but could not sell merch under the name or use branding similar to Patagonia's logo So they said, we're okay with you using your name We're fine with this. Just don't sell anything using the name or using our logo. Right. They put the emails back and forth where she agrees to this in the complaint And that was important for them to do, right? too say we're not going to come after you for calling yourself patagonia, but you just can't sell things that say patagonum Yeah, I mean, she didn't need their blessing to use the name Patig Gonia because at that time she wasn't selling anything in commerce It was fine. Right, yeah. But then in twenty twenty four, she started selling merchandise under the name Pattig Gonia. Yeah, she had a website called patigonia merch dot com that was actively selling branded t shirts, apparel and hoodies. Is it still up definitely has a website still, I just don't know if there's merch. No, it's sold out. It's sold out.. And then in september twenty twenty five, Patty Gonia filed an application with the U. S. Patent and Trademark Office seeking exclusive nationwide trademark rights to the name P AT I E G O N I A for clothing, online markarketing and Environmental Avocacy. Which to be clear, there's a space between Pattyi and Gonia. So it's not one consecutive word like Patagonia. Right. So Patagonia argued that this expanded patagonia is used from what Cesi was talking about, the discrete performance persona into a direct wide ranging commercial competitors selling overlapping goods. So they filed suit in the central district of California and it's for trademark infringement and breaching their twenty twenty two inmal agreement. Patagonia is only seeking a dollar in damages, but they are seeking their attorney's fees. And they've made clear it's not about money, but Patagonia has estimated that the cost of defending this and having to pay the fees would be about one million dollars. Oh yeah, the attorney's fees, that would be a lot So Patagonia brings this action against Win Wiley, Patagonia in response to defendant's recent trademark application, claiming the exclusive right to the brand Patagonia, for, among other things, apparel, online marketing services, promoting public awareness of and motivational speaking services, in support of environmental sustainability and LGBTQIA two S plus equality. Organizing communities sporting and cultural events, organizing, arranging and conducting trail and hiking events, entertainment services in the nature of live music performances and music recordings. These products and services compete directly with the products and advocacy upon which Patagonia built its Patagonia brand overver the last fifty three years. The trademark application reflects Patig Gonia's departure from discrete use of a persona to engage in activism and confirms defendants's intent instead to launch a wide ranging commercial enterprise Under the Paty Gonia Brand. This enterprise contradicts Pati Gonia's prior promises and appropriates Patagonia's brand and identity in a way that has already confused consumers and will continue to confuse consumers about Patagonia's role in producing or sponsoring Pati Gonia's products, events and public appearances. Patagonia supports advocacy and activism that promote the environment and inclusion in the outdoors central to Patty Gonia's ostensible mission For that reason, before Pat Gonia's activities and identity transformed into a commercial enterprise, Patagonia repeatedly communicated with Patty, Gonia and understood that the parties had reached an agreement about how that advocacy work might continue in a way that would not interfere with Patagonia's brand Patty, Gonia has not honored the agreement, however, and now seeks exclusive ownership of a PATTIE Sace GONIA trademark to commercialize products, endorsements, marketing campaigns and advocacy For all these reasons, Patagonia must protect its iconic trademarks, even when it supports or agrees with Patigonia's views message or objectives. So it includes some screenshots to Patagonia's merch. Th it shows the logo Patigonia was using. And then it included, which I think is very important, a screenshot showing that consumers are already confused about whether Patigonia is affiliated with Patagonia They claim that these are comments in response to Patty Gonia's social media post saying I genuinely thought this was a Patagonia ad for too long Dot dot dot or is it Love you, Patagonia. You're amazing. Thank you for protecting our parks. So Patagonia tried to work with Pati Gonia to avoid this outcome. In february twenty twenty two, when Hydroflask was discussing a collaboration with Pati Gonia, Hydroflask contacted Patagonia to ensure Patagonia did not object to the proposed collaboration. That's smart on their part. Very smart. Yeah, you don't want to create a bunch of products and then not be able to use it or sell it That smart. I know. I'm like brands being nice to brands. And listening to their lawyers. Yeah Pattyi Gonia confirmed an understanding that she must refrain from selling Patti Gonia branded products or using fonts or designs that copy or are substantially similar to Pattagonia's logos. Ultimately, Patty Gonia ignored the agreement she had reached with Pattagonia and began selling products under the Pati Gonia brand. In early twenty twenty five, after seeing Patty Gonia selling Patty Gonia branded apparel on her website, Pattig Gonia again asked that Patty Gonia stop commercial use of the Patty Gonia name and abide by the twenty twenty two understanding Within several months, Pattty Gonia's actions confirmed that she did not intend to abide by the understanding the parties had reached in february twenty twenty two She restocked a full line of apparel and filed a trademark application confirming her intention to secure rights in a competing and confusing brand used to sell many of the same types of products and services that Patagonia had offered for decades. Then page seventeen, we like a good email on this podcast, so I wanted to point it out. says Patagonia has no objection to the relationship between Hydrofask and Paty Gonia and particularly the work described in your email last week, but we do ask that the parties won not use or otherwise display Patagonia's logos, not use the Patagonia font in the content that is created And not use Pati Gonia in any form on product. It says, I hope these three points give you a clear sense of where we're coming from and give you confidence to move forward with your partnership and do great work together. And then they say Patagonia says, if there's any questions as the work progresses, don't hesitate to reach out to me. And then Patty Gonia responds, Robert, thank you all so much for your handling of this issue And for including us in the discussion, we really appreciate each of you so much cannot wait to get things going super excited Oh I like Patty Gonia's email signature. It says Patty Gonia and then Win Wiley, she he, they, drag queen, professional, homosexual and intersectional environmentalist. I like that. Patigonia then responds and says just want to clarify, Don't use Patagonia's logo. or any substantially similar designs like the mask meme logo we discussed, Patty that used the mountain Silhouette and the Patagonia font. Sorry for not being more clear in the first go at this As before, I welcome any conversations or feedback. I just didn't want to leave my potential miscommunication hanging out there So she says, thank you for the clarification, Robert. Re appreciate it and keep note of it. I mean, I think that's a really strong piece of evidence that they have that they spoke about this at length that they' any good faith defense because she's very aware of what they said she was allowed to use and what they said they didn't want her to use. Yeah. it does look like they tried to work with her and tell her these are the specific rules. and then she launched Patigonia merch and began actively selling branded t shirts, apparel, and hoodies I mean, it looks like she at least at a minimum had notice that they would take legal action if she crossed that line Definitely So they put in their back and forth after she starts selling the merch. They emailed her being like, Hey, what are you doing? This violates what we talked about before. Can you please take it down? And instead of taking it down, they say that she just restocked her merchandise I love that Patig Gonia and I have the same hair color. Yes. It's a great hair color. If I do say so myself. It's a great wig between digging through dense court documents and prepping for our episodes on the Bravo docket, I spend a massive amount of time in my home office. I've always felt that your workspace should feel completely like you, reflecting your personal style. 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So the Patig Gonia trademark is nearly identical to the Pati Gonia Wdmark, the logo on which Pati Gonia has displayed Patig Gonia trademark is nearly identical to Patagonia's Pash six logo the full range of Patig Gonia productucts includes products and services that are identical to and compete directly with Patagonia's products and services. And then they're arguing that it's caused confusion already. It will cause confusion They say that their mark is famous and that use will dilute the famous and distinctive mark And it says, Patagonia has no alternative but to protect its goodwill and famous trademark by obtaining an injunction against Patig Gonia's further use of the Patigonia trademark and related designs. So Patagonia hasn't just sued individuals like this, they have sued big companies like the Gap. They sued the Gap over their specific Snap tee fleece pullover design. and they did the same thing that they're doing here where they found comments that people had left saying, obvious Patagonia ripoff. I had to zoom in just to ensure that the logo was gap. They actually settled that case out of court. and then they have really tried to shut down the rhming Parodities, Fratagonia, Catagonia, and Pentagonia. So independent creators and small businesses have tried to lean into sort of tongue in cheek spin offffs of the Patagonia name. and Catagonia and Patagonia were targeted for selling pet jackets and accessories that featured the mountain skyline mimicking their logo, and Patagonia aggressively shut down every single one of them They consistently file these to establish that strict legal boundary that Cessie and I talk about And they have prevented people from using the I guess Agonia suffix paired with outdoor aesthetic elements. That does kind of make sense because Patagonia could and maybe does, I don't know, create things for pets that has the logo on it, and that would dilute the brand. They're just really fierce defenders of their logo and trade dress. I agree with you. reading those emails, it was like we're trying to work with you here.'re trying to make space for this without being really aggressive against Patty Gonia. And to be completely clear, they don't have a breach of contract claim. but in essence, they're suing because she violated a former agreement So in twenty nineteen, Anheiser Bush launched a marketing campaign for a. Patagonia brewing Comany beer, which An Hiser Bush obviously didn't talk to any of their lawyers before they did this Because their lawyers would have said, no, you can't do that. They even went so far as to promote it at Si Resorts and hand out beanies with the mountain logo that looked very similar to Patagonia's P six skyline logo. And so Patagonia sued not just for infringement, but for trademark delusion, which Cessie already explained. And so that case settled shortly after Which is not surprising because that seems like a pretty obvious like I'm shocked Ann Huszard Bush did that at all. I mean, just named it Patagonia. They had a whole marketing campaign for a Patagonia brewing company beer and they were just handing out merch that had a very similar logo. Yeah. I think the merch crosses the line. I don't think naming a beer necessarily crosses the line because Patagonia is a place Right, whichich I was gonna ask you about that. Obviously they're not going to go after Patagonia for their name. Right? For the name of a geographic location, but they've built a brand that's associated with this apparel Well, it's a very specific logo, specific font and specific colors. An example that I've read Apple. peopleeople are going use the word Apple, but no one's gonna to make a computer brand named Apple with a Y. Aal or something. Right. You just wouldn't Anizer Bush filed a motion to dismiss in that case and the court denied it and then it settled after that. So did Annheizer Bush not talk to a single lawyer? No, I'm pretty sure they did because a lot of companies too will just gamble. They'll just take the chances. They figure the gamble's worth the risk. It happens a lot. I guess that's another reason to aggressively enforce this so you don't have companies taking that gamble. They're like, it's not worth it. I'm not gonna pull this tiger by the tail. Yeah O else I'll get sued and then I have to pay attorneyss fees. Right So another interesting facet about this though, is that there's been a lot of public statements about the lawsuit by both sides. Patagonia, after they filed the lawsuit in January, posted this long press release on their website saying, hey, we didn't want to do this, but this is why we have to. We want to protect our brand that we've been building for over fifty years. And then Pattty herself went public on social media on may twenty seventh, twenty twenty six which is why we recently been hearing about this even though it was filed all the way back in January. She went very public about it. She posted an open letter on her website and on her Instagram. She says, hi everyone, it's Patig Gonia Today I'm breaking my silence about the lawsuit that the multib billion dollar corporation, Patagonia, has filed against me, A drag queen and climate activists for trademark infringement Patagonia told the media that they're only suing me for a dollar. What they're actually trying to do is take away my name permanently and threaten me with more than one million dollars in legal fees That is not a brand conflict. This is a corporation trying to erase an activist This is how corporations bully individuals who cannot match their resources. Because this would take away not only my activism in my career, but also the livelihoods of the team I employ. So Pati Gonia says this is a betrayal of Patagonia's core mission, because if they're in business to save the home planet, why are they suing a climate activist Over the last four months since the lawuit was filed, I have stayed silent, courteous, and worked every channel I had to resolve this without going to court But in the end I had two choices, the erasure of my name, my advocacy, my community, and everyone I employ or two, fight for myself and fight for us. I feel for her And I see where she's coming from. But also they weren't saying she can't use the name Patagonia and perform under that. They were just saying you can't sell stuff that says Patagonia on it Right, And they're only seeking an injunction to stop her from manufacturing, producing, sourcing, selling distributing advertising goods under the name Patigonia. Yeah. And they even reached out to her for settlement, which I was gonna talk about later. And again, they just said, stop using the name and our logo in merchandise. That's it. I mean, that doesn't seem super unreasonable to me. Me neither. And the thing is she could still have her community without selling Mchandise I know, and she's so clever too. I've watched her TikToks for a long time. I feel like she could come up with another catchphrase or something that she could trademark and then use on merchandise that wouldn't maybe violate this but still capture her brand. I don't know. She could just say Patty. Yeah. And I was going to talk about this later too. So Trixie Mattel is one of the biggest drag queens out there Obviously, Matel is a huge brand, rightight, huge brand name, but she does not sell merch with Mattel on it. It's just triickxie. So that's how she gets away without violating their mark Even her cosmetics line is Trixie Cosmetics. It's not Trixie Matel Cosmetics and everyone still recognizes that it's Trixie Matel. So that's an avenue she could have gone under. And I'm pretty sure Trixie Matel also didn't tremark her name because that would be automatic lawsuit. That's all to say she could do the same thing Trixie did and just do patty with the logos that she was using. Like I think there's a boot logo with flowers coming out of it. Just do that concern for Patagonia because I don't know what her legal team was telling her before she did this. becausecause Patagonia has been so active about defending their logo and their brand and their trademarks. Especially having that agreement in place beforehand, it's just not a good piece of evidence for her at all. And they did only file an answer. They didn't file a motion to dismiss It's probably wise because it was pleaded properly and it'd probably lose. but that means it's going into discovery. it' go into huge summary judgment briefing. I understand what she was saying because of the Lexi Love issue where she wasn't able to keep her performance name because there was basically a troll that just trademarked that. But if someone else had filed for a patty Gonia trademark that wasn't Patagonia, then Patagonia would have done the same thing to them. Right. And really there was no reason for her to trademark it because the only reason she would have to trademark it is if she was going to use that name in commerce. Right. And she was told she shouldn't use that name in commerce So she could still use it to perform with, even if someone else trademarked the name. She could still perform under the name. She just couldn't sell merch if someone else trademarked Pattigonia, which they shouldn't. I thought it was interesting that Patty Gonia said she only filed her trademark application because she watched a fellow drag queen lose her performance name to what she called a third party squatter after appearing on Drag race. 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My husband's an artist, an actual artist artist. And so saying the term AI artist together will give him hives. That would be very upsetting, but that's how this person is categorizing themselves. I'm sorry, John. That person registered the federal trademark for Lexi Love and operates the Lexi Love universe. And that's Selena Skola. And so she holds a federal registration for the mark Lexi Love Aserting continuous ongoing commercial use dating back to two thousand four. And she filed a trademark application in early twenty twenty four when it was approved in january twenty twenty five, covering talent management services for both human and digital performers. And she claimed that her brand equity had been current and active for over two decades. So Lexi loved the Drag artist. Her single classic and her musical catalog were stripped from streaming giants like Spotify and Apple Music. Her profile and cameo was deactivated and her Facebook pages associated with her stage name were removed. So that was really horrible for that to happen. I agree, but it seems like this other Lexi loveove, the one who tremarked it had been using it in commerce right. Right. So that's a bad situation and it doesn't look like it's working out particularly well for the adult entertainment performer, Lexi Love because she's obviously received pretty big backlash from this So that's just a bad situation all around what Patty Gonia saying, I saw this happen to her. I didn't want it to happen to me, but it is a different situation because if someone else had tried to trademark Patig Gonia, Patagonia would have done the same thing. And Patig Gonia agreed not to use the name in commerce. Right. right. There wouldn't be a need to trademark it She issued a statement may twenty seventh, strategically timed, in my opinion, just days before Pride Month Patagonia then also responded on their website, and Patagonia responded There's just been a lot of back and forth. And Patagonia posted something on their Instagram. This is a textbook case of trademark enforcement. Patagonia explicitly states in their complaint that they only filed it to protect their trademark. even when it supports or agrees with Pati Gonia's views, messages or objectives Pattty Gonia breached a twenty twenty two agreement in which she agreed not to sell merch with Pattty Gonia on it not to use the same font and not to use or otherwise display Patagonia's trademarked logos. In the back and forth these sort of negotiations that Patty Gonia and Patagonia were doing in the press, Patty Gonia offered to withdraw her trademark application and promised to not parody Patagonia's mountain logo or font again in exchange for Patagonia dropping the lawsuit. Patagonia agreed to drop the suit If Pati Gonia withdrew the application, stopped using the Patagonia logos, and completely stopped selling the Pati Gonia branded apparel. Patty Gonia refused that condition. She wanted to keep selling the apparel. And she stated she can't completely halt apparel cells because merchandising funds her entire ecosystem of advocacy and community engagement. So It's obviously worth it to Pattty Gonia to keep fighting this because it sounds like her apparel cells were making a lot of money, or at least were profitable Yes as A Patagonia is not just talking about my upcycle t shirt merch and that bullet point, They're talking about the partnership work with other brands that I've done for years to pay for the education, advocacy, and activism that me and my team do. If I can't do partnerships as Patty Gonia