Dental Practice Beats Lacoste, Wins Right to Use Crocodile Logo
Marketing Wars: UK Logo Battle Settled in Court
Lacoste polo shirts have become ubiquitous, and their distinctive crocodile logo makes them easy to spot. So the clothing retailer balked when two British dentists tried to use a cartoon crocodile as their dental practice logo.
Lacoste argued that the practice’s logo could hurt Lacoste’s business. However, the UK Intellectual Property Office disagreed, finding in favor of the dentists and ordering Lacoste to pay the practice’s legal costs.
In fact, The Dental Practice in Gloucester had been using a crocodile logo for a dozen years before they finally registered it as trademark. The French company objected to the trademark, leading to a 4-year legal battle that appears to have finally been resolved.
Said the dentists, “We are happy the situation has been resolved but astonished by the length of time it took to reach this conclusion. We do not consider ourselves to be in the same marketplace at all and do not see that we are treading on any toes.”
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