French-Canadian designer Alexandre Verdier won acclaim for his Verdier Solar Powered Eco-Camper, a greened-out, expensive microbus aimed at wealthy old former hippies. In fact, he was even nominated for an Edison Award (.pdf) this year for clever inventors.
Just one tiny problem: the Verdier buses look exactly like that other little brand of buses that starts with a V.
Volkswagen sued Verdier in the Northern District for trademark infringement and today got Judge Jeffrey White to issue a preliminary injunction (.pdf) against a lawyerless and unresponsive Verdier. Sheppard Mullin’s Neil Smith is representing VW.
White ruled that confusion was likely between the VW and Verdier logo. He also found that VW would likely succeed on its trade dress infringement — that Verdier’s van looks very similar to a VW bus, with its “bread-loaf” design, “V design” on the nose, and other things. (Compare and contrast for yourself)
For his part Verdier hasn’t shown up in court or contested the lawsuit. The only thing he’s done is take down his web sites.
— Zusha Elinson
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