Mickey's Musings

Isn't this getting just a little ridiculous?

From this morning's news

Abercrombie and Fitch has filed a lawsuit against the apparel retailer and competitor American Eagle Outfitters. A&F claims that Hollister apparel stores has the exclusive rights to the number 22, yes the very same number that comes after 21 and before 23, and is seeking to prevent American Eagle?s use of the number on its clothing and advertising. Though A&F has not registered the number for a trademark, the company believes that it has established grounds for the common law rights to the number, as 22 has appeared on Hollister?s clothing since the Hollister chain of stores opened its doors in 2000. Additionally the number 22 references the fictitious 1922 founding date of Hollister. In order to win a ruling in its favor A&F will likely have to prove that consumers associate the number 22 with Hollister, so if one buys a shirt with a 22 they are assuming that the it is a Hollister brand shirt and furthermore that another company featuring the number on its shirts or in its advertising would be misleading to the public. In 1998 the A&F company filed a trademark infringement lawsuit against American Eagle Outfitters in 1998 claiming that American Eagle had copied its clothing styles, colors, marketing, advertising and stores, the case was dismissed as having no merit and went to a court of appeals, which upheld the lower courts ruling.