Navajo Nation files trademark suit against Urban Outfitters

18.05.12

Telephone messages left for Urban Outfitters spokesman Ed Looram were not returned Wednesday.

The lawsuit contends that Urban Outfitters began using the Navajo name, and a differently spelled version, Navaho, in its product line or in connection with the sale of its merchandise as early as March 16, 2009; the company applied those names to clothing, jewelry, shoes, handbags, caps, gloves, undergarments, and scarves.

Merchandise also bore designs and marks that "evoke the Navajo Indian Tribe's tribal patterns, including geometric prints and designs fashioned to mimic and resemble Navajo Indian and Tribal patterns, prints, and designs," the lawsuit says.

"Urban Outfitters has sold and is selling over 20 products using 'Navajo' and 'Navaho' trademarks in its retail stores, its catalogs, and its online stores," the tribe contends.

One example cited: A "Leather Navaho cuff" was on Urban Outfitters' website in January 2010. About a year later, by the tribe's estimation, the company launched a product line of "20 or more items containing the NAVAJO name, or the term 'Navaho' in the product name alone."

Source: Philadelphia Inquirer