The Nîmes hockey club, the Krokos, provokes the ire of the American brand Crocs Inc. for a logo story. The affair was revealed by the Chained Duck. The club president reacts.
You are the president of Nîmes Krokos, the Nîmes hockey club. Why did the Crocs brand attorneys contact you?
We are a young association in the sense that very recently, the choice was made to separate the roller-skating component from the ice-cream component that the club had until now. We therefore submitted the statutes of the Krokos in February to the prefecture.
At the same time, we agreed that it was the right moment to also deposit the logo that we had just modified. Being myself a lawyer in HR in the public service, I wanted to make things in order.
And in the process you received a registered letter from the lawyers of the brand of Crocs clogs?
Yes and what a surprise! We are an association law 1901, which sells its few textiles to its members mainly. And we receive this formal notice as if we represent a threat to this American multinational!
What do these lawyers demand?
That we withdraw our application for trademark registration with the National Institute of Industrial Property (Inpi). On the grounds that the online sale of T-shirts, hats, etc. with the effigy of the club, and therefore with a crocodile in the logo, could overshadow the American brand.
They argue that the signs in question are visually comparable and that the name Krokos also includes phonetically very similar signs.
Will you respond favorably to their injunctions?
For the moment we have not made contact with them, I would prefer that this be settled amicably, but we have decided to fight for our name and our logo. The crocodile is an integral part of the emblem of Nîmes!
The crocodile and Nîmes, what a story!
If it was François I in 1536 who made it the arms of the city of Nîmes, the crocodile, or croco for those close to you, has been the emblem of the city of the Antonins for more than two thousand years.
Indeed, the saurian chained to a palm tree is a memory of the colony founded by Roman legionaries of Augustus who had succeeded in conquering Egypt.
In Nîmes therefore, the crocodile is legion and is exhibited on the fountains, in the town hall, and on the jerseys, logos and other goodies with the effigies of the city. No offense to the Americans.
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