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5 May 2017Trademarks

Christmas jumper designers clash in trademark case

It may only be May, but two Christmas-themed apparel companies have gone head-to-head in a lawsuit.

Tipsy Elves has taken on rival Ugly Christmas Sweater (UCS) over a Google advert sponsored by UCS which allegedly featured the ‘Tipsy Elves’ trademark.

In a claim filed at the US District Court for the Southern District of California on Tuesday, May 2, Tipsy Elves said that in December 2016, UCS used Google AdWords to place ‘Tipsy Elves’ as the top and first two words of copy in an advert linked to its website.

“Defendants thus not only used the ‘Tipsy Elves’ mark, but also featured it in blue letters above everything else in the advertisement at a much larger size than most of the other advertising copy,” said the claim.

This meant that when ‘Tipsy Elves’ was searched for, a link to the UCS website allegedly appeared in the adverts on the search.

“Defendants employed the keyword ‘tipsy elves’ within Google AdWords in order to ensure that the advertisement featuring the mark appeared alongside legitimate advertisements and links to the Tipsy Elves website,” it added.

Tipsy Elves argued that this gave the public the false impression that clicking on the associated links would take them to the Tipsy Elves website.

This is the second time that the two Christmas-themed clothing companies have clashed.

In 2012, an out of court settlement was reached after UCS was issued with a cease-and-desist letter to stop infringing Tipsy Elves’ copyright in its sweater designs, according to the suit.

Tipsy Elves is seeking profits, destruction of infringing material, a preliminary injunction and a jury trial.

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