Unusual: why the American brand Crocs is suing a Nîmes hockey club

Officially registered with the Gard prefecture last February, following the separation of the ice hockey and roller skating sections, the Krokos club is entering the world of marketing through the front door. Two months of existence has strictly speaking for this structure and already a conflict with the American plastic clog giant, Crocs. The reason ? The American brand believes that the logo, where a crocodile appears, as well as the name of the club, gives too much similarity with the shoe brand.

However, in Nîmes, the crocodile is a regular of the place, it has been a symbol of the city since Roman antiquity, that is to say about 2000 years, as much to tell you that at the time there were no plastic tap on the Gallo-Roman forums.

Interviewed by our colleagues from Free lunchFlorent Marès, president of the club defends his approach and returns to the requests of the lawyers of the mark: “(They ask) That we withdraw our request for registration of mark with the National Institute of Industrial Property (Inpi). reason 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 has phonetically very similar signs. For the moment we have not made contact with them, I would prefer that this be settled amicably, but we are determined to fight for our name and our logo. The crocodile is an integral part of the emblem of Nîmes!”

In this duel which promises to be that of David against Goliath, the situation makes you smile, especially if you compare the economic weight of the two tortoiseshell franchises. Last year the American tap giant had generated nearly 2.7 billion dollars in turnover, where the small hockey club had sold for 5,472 euros and 15 cents of goodies. However, a formal notice is not to be taken lightly, especially for such a small structure as the Nîmes club Krokos.

Crocs, which has for some years infiltrated the wardrobes of stars, wants no one to be able to “distort” their image by appropriating the saurin. While waiting for an outcome to this affair, the Nîmes club has still managed to get people talking about it, without wanting to, on the other side of the Atlantic. We let you judge the similarity, or not, of the two logos.