“Get Bent” says Hugger-Mugger to Gaiam in Trademark Infringement Suit
Last week, Hugger-Mugger brought suit in federal court against Gaiam, alleging trademark infringement for Gaiam’s use of the term “Hugger-Mugger” as a key search term. Hugger and Gaiam are purveyors of consumer yoga products.
According to the suit, Gaiam is using Hugger-Mugger’s registered trademark, HUGGER-MUGGER, to divert consumers to the Gaiam site. Hugger-Mugger claims that Gaiam has contracted with various search engines, such as Google, MSN, About.com, and Yahoo! to use the trademark. Each time a search engine user types in the term HUGGER-MUGGER, the suit claims that users are given the opportunity to enter the Gaiam site.
This lawsuit is just one of a mounting number of suits that calls into question the practice adopted by many competitors and search engines of using third party trademarks. This suit, however, marks one of the first that goes directly after the competitor for trademark infringement. While it seems evident from some recent cases that have been handed down by the courts that search engines are not likely liable for selling otherwise descriptive terms that may also be trademarks, it is still unclear how the courts will react to more fanciful trademarks used by competitors and search engines. No doubt, Hugger-Mugger’s Chakras will be out of alignment until this matter is settled.