Crombie Trademark
Hello.
We are small family business selling mens wool long overcoats,
in the current clothing industry, these coats are referred to as “Crombie Coats” or “Cromby Coats”
in our product title we used the Word “Cromby” and not “Crombie” as that is a registered trademark.
this week we received a letter from the company “Crombie” to stop using their brand name in our products, even though we have not spelt it the same, by December or they will open a case against us.
the company “Crombie” has recently been bought by a equity firm.
if you currently search “Crombie Overcoat” in google there are 1000 of products with the brand name in the title from many companies selling similar items which are not branded “Crombie”
I would please like on advice if i need to comply with their letter.
3 replies
Seller_77IcbQKVGdZo0
I wouldn’t ignore it and you may well need to seek the advice of an Intellectual Property Lawyer to help you deal with this.
As the word ‘Cromby’ is very similar to the registered trademark it could be argued that you are ‘Passing Off’ and making customers think they are buying a Crombie product rather than a product that is not. Whilst this is not trademark infringement then legal action can be taken against you to stop you from using the similar name.
What you don’t state is what action they are prepared to take against you. When they say raise a case do they mean they are going to report you to Amazon or are they going to take legal action against you. I think you need to understand this.
If it is legal action can you afford to fight? If it is just reporting to Amazon then you risk losing your business
I would also not worry about what other sellers are doing as it is likely that they will be contacted as well.
Also consider whether you can remove the word ‘Cromby’ from all your listings to comply with their request.
If you can afford it I really would look at getting an intellectual property lawyer for advice. They can give you the best advice on the way forward.
