Dentists smile as Lacoste lose crocodile dispute

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Nile Crocodile - Fatty is Missing Some Teeth

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 Good to see the corporate fat guys get turned over by the little men some times!

[q
url="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml;jsessionid=5BV3TZJ30IY0TQFIQMGCFGGAVCBQUIV0?xml=/news/2008/01/03/nlacoste103.xml"]A
Gloucestershire dental practice has come out smiling after defeating
fashion chain Lacoste in a dispute over a crocodile trademark.

The two dentists were challenged by the French clothing giant after
using a grinning reptile as the logo on their practice’s welcome sign.

Lacoste claimed the cartoon crocodile was too similar to their own
globally recognised logo, and could cause confusion among shoppers
which could damage their business.

The battle began in 2004 when dentists Dr Tim Rumney and Dr Simon
Moore first applied to register the new logo – a plain green crocodile
with white teeth – for The Dental Practice in Cheltenham.

Lacoste objected saying it was too similar to their own green crocodile logo, which is pictured side-on with gaping red jaws.

Now, following a three year battle, the UK Intellectual Property Office judge has dismissed claims the emblems are too similar.

The dentists represented themselves at an initial hearing in May at
the Intellectual Property Office in Newport, where Judge Ann Corbett
ruled in the practice's favour.

But Lacoste’s legal team launched a subsequent appeal, which was finally rejected late last year.

Dr Rumney said he was "astonished" his practice had encountered such difficulties.

He said: "We are happy the situation has been resolved but astonished by the length of time it took to reach this conclusion.

"I suppose it is a big success for our business but we certainly did not regard it as taking anyone on."

He added: "We do not consider ourselves to be in the same market
place at all and do not see that we are treading on any toes. We chose
the sign with little second thought."

Lacoste was ordered to pay £1,000 towards the dental practice's
legal costs at the initial hearing as well as a further £450 towards
the costs of the second hearing.[/q]

[q
url="http://women.timesonline.co.uk/tol/life_and_style/women/fashion/article3123569.ece"]It
was a battle that pitted a dental practice in the suburbs of Cheltenham
against the might of a global fashion corporation – all because of the
grinning crocodile on the surgery’s sign.

And the dentists have won. For the second time in a year, a
trademark judge has overruled the objections of the French clothing
giant Lacoste to the crocodile symbol that adorns a private dentist’s
surgery in Gloucestershire.

Lacoste had argued that the brand – even on a dental surgery – could
be mistaken for its own crocodile emblem, causing confusion among
shoppers and people who need a tooth filling.

The battle began in September 2004, when Tim Rumney and Simon Moore,
the two principal practitioners at the surgery, tried to register their
logo. They had been offering dentistry to people in the Gloucestershire
town since the mid1980s. In 1991 they decided that this endeavour
required a symbol.

To go with their name, The Dental Practice, which they felt
accurately summed up the nature of their business, they were keen to
find a simple design that conveyed the nature of their work.

“A lot of practices had quite modest logos – often just a sketch of
their building,” Dr Moore told The Times yesterday. “We liked the
crocodile design because of the natural association with teeth.”

Crocodiles are known for their well-kept incisors. “They have little birds that pick bits out of their teeth,” Dr Moore said.

However, when the two dentists got around to registering their logo,
in the autumn of 2004, lawyers from Lacoste insisted that the crocodile
had an altogether different association in the public’s mind – with
their products.

Lacoste argued that the crocodile symbolised their range of sports
and casual clothing, shoes, sunglasses, leather bags and perfume.

Even though the dentists’ crocodile was plain green with white teeth
and their crocodile was side on, with gaping red jaws, Lacoste feared
that the two logos could easily be confused and the consequent
confusion would harm their business.

Like the crocodile in their logo, however, the dentists did not
blink. They represented themselves against Lacoste’s formidable legal
team at the first hearing in May at the Intellectual Property Office in
Newport.

They were confident that the judge would find for their argument
that shoppers looking for a camel hair jersey from Lacoste’s autumn
collection were unlikely to confuse it with the need for root canal
surgery. They also argued that their clients were unlikely to mistake
their single-storey brick building, behind a car park and next to a
petrol station, for a boutique selling Lacoste fashions.

At the end of this first hearing Judge Ann Corbett duly concluded that:

“Dental services are so different to clothing that . . . the average
consumer of goods or services in question, who is reasonably well
informed and reasonably observant and circumspect, would not make that
mistake.”

Lacoste appealed against the decision and, late last year, the case
was put to the UK Intellectual Property Office in London. The judge,
Professor Ruth Annand, has now rejected the appeal.

Yesterday Dr Moore described the legal action as “very much using a
sledgehammer to crack a nut”. He added: “We were very surprised such a
big international company would feel threatened by one town dental
practice.”

Lacoste was ordered to pay £1,000 towards the dental practice’s
legal costs at the initial hearing. They have now been ordered to pay a
further £450 towards the costs of the second hearing.[/q]