By: Zac Papantoniou
H/T to Ryan Gile at Las Vegas Trademark Attorney Blog, for bringing this trademark infringement suit involving cameltoe-covering undies to light, and thus making it clearly visible for us here at the Legal Satyricon to find (Note – Due to the nature of this case, and my juvenile sense of humor, I take no responsibility for making really bad puns).
Ryan Gile wrote an interesting post yesterday, regarding a trademark infringement lawsuit filed in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan. The plaintiff and defendant in the suit are competing makers of cameltoe covering underwear for women, who both (at some point) have used a variation of the word “camouflage” to identify the brand of their respective products.
According to the complaint, Ruby Tuesday Designs, LLC (the Plaintiff) has been engaged in selling its cameltoe-masking undergarments under the mark KAMELFLAGE since March 2009. The Plaintiff is suing Camelflage, LLC, who registered the domain name “camelflage.com” on May 27, 2009; two days later, the Defendant also applied to the USPTO for registration of the word mark CAMELFLAGE (for undergarments and other apparel) stating that the mark’s first date of use-in-commerce was March 15, 2009. The Defendant is currently selling its version of cameltoe-masking undies through their aforementioned website using the CAMELFLAGE mark. The story leading up to the filing of the suit has some amusing twists and turns (which Gile has done a superb job of detailing in his post on the matter), not to mention plenty of references to cameltoes, so if you want a few laughs (and some case analysis) check out Gile’s take on the suit.
As for my take on the matter . . . I would give at least $100 to be in that courtroom, as the judge attempts to keep a straight face while listening to a couple of attorneys argue for/against a likelihood of confusion in the context of cameltoe camouflaging apparel.
