Twilight

Some may be Team Edward, others are Team Jacob, but does this mean that either set of fans is more likely to buy Bath and Body Works’ line of lotions, shower gels and the like if they’re sold under the mark TWILIGHT  WOODS?  Apparently Summit Entertainment LLC, maker of the Twilight movies that emanate from the immensely popular Stephenie Meyer book series, thinks so.  Summit sent a cease-and-desist letter to Bath and Body Works objecting to its use of TWILIGHT WOODS,  which resulted in Bath and Body Works filing a lawsuit seeking a judgment declaring that its mark does not infringe the TWILIGHT mark.

Unfortunately for Summit, they are on record as having taken a different position when it suited them.  Less than two months before sending its cease and desist letter to Bath and Body, Summit filed a written argument with the US Patent and Trademark Office trying to convince the trademark Examiner that Summit’s application for TWILIGHT for fragrances, lotions etc. should be granted because the mark is not confusingly similar to a registered trademark TWILIGHT owned by Coty for the same goods!  Summit took the position in its argument that consumers will associate its TWILIGHT goods with the movies, and will associate Coty’s TWILIGHT goods with “the period of time when day meets night.”  Summit also argued that my high school classmate Sarah Jessica Parker is a celebrity spokesperson for the Coty goods and that people will buy it because they are her fans.  Yeah, and SJP never appears in movies, right?  The Examiner did not buy this argument, and Summit’s trademark application is still facing this refusal.

In trying to have it both ways, Summit is taking the position that the use of TWILIGHT WOODS will call to mind the Twilight movies because of the woods context.   At least Bella knew she had to choose.