Sk*rt Forced To Change Name To Avoid Trademark Lawsuit

The original Skirt Magazine has been around at least since 1998 or so, and they rock! They have always had a strong presence in the South. This magazine has some of the highest quality articles and first person essays from women around the U.S., and their brand has always been very strong.

When I was a columnist for them for a year or so (roughly 1999 through 2000) I knew they were headed for great things. I'm very glad to hear that they are moving into the social media world and I know that their enterprise will be very successful.

There is no question that the other Sk*rt's trademark attorney really dropped the ball on this one. Even the most basic of trademark due diligence should have turned up this popular magazine and its website network, and anyone with half a brain would have understood the potential problems with infringement in registering a similar name targeting a similar demographic.

But for their sake I'm very glad that they are able to move on and relaunch - and I'm sure they'll do really well with their revamped site.

I just wanted to share from both the perspective of a trademark owner and also a former writer for the original (and one and only, in my opinion!) Skirt that the whole thing seems very odd to me - that nobody would have come across the potential infringement problem a lot earlier in the game. Long before I was even allowed to apply for a trademark there was a strong due diligence process that unearthed many different businesses that my attorney and I needed to examine carefully as I planned the future of my business.

Perhaps the problem here, as the Sk*rt owners mentioned, is that they came to the business part late and were busy just intuitively managing a popular and interesting site.

While that's wonderful, trademark infringement is a serious issue and many aspects of trademark law as affected by new media are still evolving and changing to this day. Perhaps they were working with someone inexperienced with online media. Even with my team I had to have my attorney go back and forth with the trademark office several times to carefully explain and lay out the differences between an online newsletter, a blog, a website, etc. which haven't been very well defined yet within the world of trademark law.

In many ways the trademark office is still very much behind the times, and it definitely needs to catch up so more people like the Sk*rt ladies don't have to deal with all these complicated and stressful problems.

Here's wishing the players on both side of this case the very best with their respective business ventures.

The Internet Marketing Badger, otherwise known as Jennifer Shepherd, provides user-friendly tips on making money online as well as humorous rants about all things Internet Marketing related at http://www.internetmarketingbadger.com.

I take issue with using the phrase “on a rampage.” I think
that assigns a negative value to people who are simply acting to protect intellectual
property. While I'm glad to see this topic getting more attention it does a disservice to raising awareness about the issue when it's addressed as such.

That being said, it is my opinion that the ladies of Sk*rt seemingly
received some very bad legal advice. The term isn’t a common phrase when used
commercially and if it were, the entire dispute would’ve been tossed. As much
as I like what they do, it seems Sk*rt made some bad choices, such as not
protecting their name right out of the starting block. Skirt Mag comes across
as semi-predatory in business and honestly, that’s just how it works in
business. Entities act to protect their interests and you can't fault them for that as we all would do the same. 

This is yet another example of how and when you should
protect your intellectual property. If you take any step in branding yourself you
need to think about the big picture. The medium of the Web doesn’t diminish the
severity or importance intellectual property law. 

Also, I think the name “Kirtsy” is exponentially cleverer
than “skirt.” I like ot SO much better and it has a young connotation. I wish the Sk*rt ladies all the best and greatly respect how they handled the matter
professionally and decorously. 

Dana
Mamalogues.com ( http://www.mamalogues.com )

on KFTK 97.1 FM/Fox News Radio ( http://www.971talk.com/dana/index.aspx ) ( http://www.stltoday.com/mamalogues )

 During our chat they shared that Digg is 95% male..so having Sk*rt is important for women bloggers. Also, they said that while Digg ranks stories by participants voting, women, they have discovered do not like to vote..so last March they got rid of voting on Sk*rt  and instead use click throughs to stories to determine which stories makes their front page.

elana
Blogher Contributing Editor,Business&CareersFunnyBusiness ( http://funnybusiness.typepad.com/funnybusiness )

That sucks! But I'm glad you wrote about it! I've never heard of the site before but it always bothered me that Digg is so male oriented.

I'll definitely get involved with the site once they are back up!

Ideas For Women blog ( http://www.ideasforwomen.com/news/ )

to offer support to the name change three? I'm annoyed, but not at all surprised, they were squeezed this way. My gosh, Apple the computer company squished Apple the Beatle company, and that seemed almost like some sort of generational heresy.

Anyway, what is the most positive way the rest of us can send a good message here?  

nelle ( http://www.nelle2nelle.org/ )