This article originally ran in Apparelist. To read more, click here.
Colorado: It’s a state filled with outdoor enthusiasts and plenty of brands to help them showcase their passions. Stephen Fucik and his clothing brand Skiman LLC is just one of those brands, but he’s facing potential trademark trouble after receiving multiple cease and desist letters from Nike.
Skiman LLC is a brand geared toward ski lovers, started by a ski lover. “It’s the ultimate freedom sport that you can do,” Fucik told Denver7 in an interview.
The Trademarked Logo
Fucik designed the logo for the apparel business himself — a skier doing a trick called a daffy — and went through the trademark registration process in 2020 with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO). He received the trademark registration for the logo in December 2020. From there, he built his online brand and began selling women’s, men’s, and kid’s ski apparel and accessories donning the trademarked logo.
“I just thought of a logo that just resembled what it is to be free on the mountain,” he told Denver7, with no intention of infringing on Nike’s trademark. Having gone through official avenues to receive his trademark, he hopes that will protect him. Wondering how Nike found his business, he was surprised it would send a cease and desist to a small brand like his.
According to Denver7: “The letters claimed Skiman LLC’s logo was confusingly similar to Nike’s ‘Jumpman’ logo. One letter asked him to ‘voluntarily cancel’ his trademark. Another letter said Nike may pursue ‘any and all available legal prescriptions … to protect its valuable trademarks.’”
Colorado trademark attorney Adrienne Fischer says trademarked businesses, like Nike, often take legal action against other brands if there’s a likelihood of confusion surrounding a trademarked work. For small business owners, this can be detrimental.
“These business owners have to rebrand, and unfortunately, rebranding is very costly. And they go through the process again,” Fischer told Denver7.
The news outlet points out that when Fucik applied for the Skiman trademark in 2020, applications shot up 63% over the previous year. USPTO says the increase was due in part to the growth in e-commerce amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
“It was hard, too hard, to know where an examiner was going to come down or what issues they would flag,” Fischer shared, and Fucik’s application made it through the entire USPTO approval process with no challenges from Nike until now.
Fucik has attempted negotiations with Nike with no luck and does not plan to abandon his logo. “I’m looking forward to the ski season,” he told the news outlet. “So, am I ready to fight this? Yeah. I mean, sometimes you gotta do what’s right. And I’m ready to fight for this.”
