The best story you will ever read!!

DAVID (AND GEORGE)
AND GOLIATH!

Well unless you have been living on the moon for the past
few days you can’t fail to have noticed that D&G Autocare has had a lot of
media interest recently in their trademark battle with Dolce & Gabbana.
As Dolce & Gabbana don’t run a chain of garages they
didn’t expect any opposition when they applied to register their trademark in
October. The Notice of “threatened opposition” they lodged in December made the guys
determined to fight for their cause – the D&G Autocare logo is very well known
now and is instantly recognisable – they are very proud of it and it is crucial to
their garage group’s continued success and expansion. Like me, you were probably
amazed that the Italian fashion giant could claim that people would be
confused between the two businesses – D&G Autocare
won’t be producing handbags and perfume any time soon!
David and George want to thank their lawyers at Young & Partners
particularly Neil Killop who wrote back stating the obvious differences between our firm and Dolce &
Gabbana and asking for proof of Dolce & Gabbana’s presence in the car
industry. Meanwhile the objection periods for our trademark application was extended
by the UK Intellectual Property Office until March 1st because there
had been an objection lodged.
It sounds unbelievable but Dolce & Gabbana had registered
their trademark across 12 different trademark classes including vehicle and
vehicle parts. Mr Killop asked them for proof of their use of their trademark
in that class, knowing it would be impossible for them to prove this. Dolce
& Gabbana then said they would not formally object if D&G Autocare always
used the word Autocare in the logo and did not try to register outside the UK.
They did not actually send in the fax with this offer until2 9 Feb, a day before
the objection period ended.
D&G decided to wait it out for 24 hours and see if a formal objection
was made by Dolce & Gabbana. They were absolutely delighted when they learned
that there had been no formal objection made in time – it was a victory for
D&G Autocare against this fashion giant – a real case of David slaying
Goliath!
Says George Simpson: “This battle was costly and time consuming
but to us it is worth it as the trademark is a milestone for our business, protecting
our business , our identity and our staff.”
“We are now moving forward and looking to open up in the
Capital soon – we have a great team in place which can all grow further.”
David and George enjoyed a stint on BBC Radio Scotland and
had extensive media coverage in all the major Scottish papers including the front
page of the Courier! A fantastic story for me to PR, what an opportunity and probably one of the best stories I will ever come across in my PR career but it couldn't have happened to a nicer firm - wwll done the wee man against the big man from the fashion capital of scotland!