Porsche, Crocs spar over Cayman name

Porsche, Crocs spar over Cayman name
By Andrew Ganz - Posted November 11th 2009

It’s not often that an automaker pursues legal action against a shoe manufacturer – in fact, this is the first case that the Leftlane legal crew can remember: Porsche claims that plastic shoe manufacturer Crocs’ use of the Cayman name for one of its offerings infringes on the automaker’s entry-level hardtop sports car.
The legal case was mentioned in Crocs’ recent quarterly report. Crocs Europe received an unpleasant cease and desist letter from Porsche in May. In addition to asking Crocs to stop using the Cayman name, Porsche wants the shoe company to reimburse it for any legal costs incurred in sending the notice, reports Footnoted.org.

A more formal injunction was filed in Germany on July 30.
“The company intends to vigorously defend itself against these claims,” Crocs said in its quarterly report.
40 COMMENTS
1. atoms260 days ago
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  hmmm FINA vs. FIA
  
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2. 05Z88Path260 days ago
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  So can the Cayman Islands sue Porsche as well? How about the alligators themselves? This is a frivolous lawsuit if I’ve ever heard of one….
  
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3. johngalt260 days ago
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  I wouldn’t want my car associated with a product as ugly as those freakin’ “shoes,” either. (Apologies, leftwingagenda.)
  
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4. RaineMan260 days ago
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  Oh it’s a shoe… for crying out loud.
  
  Porsche… shame on you for stooping so low. You are better than that.
  
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5. JakeK66260 days ago
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  huh? I want to see Lincoln’s dead corpse sue Ford over using his name for their brand – that actually makes more sense than this BS. I hope this happened before the VW buyout under the previous Porsche management because man – this is just plain stupid. Remember the government raided Porsche’s HQ just a couple months ago – I really want to know what was going on there!!!
  
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6. jayjc08260 days ago
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  Are they afraid these shoes will get more action on the pavement? Stay tuned…
  
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7. johnnycanuck260 days ago
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  What a croc of sh*t.
  
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8. Ceylon260 days ago
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  OK it’s a shoe. But it’s Porsche, Then again it’s a bloody shoe. I would love to know how this works out.
  
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9. Zesty Honda260 days ago
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  Crocs marketing meeting; “We need something that says wealthy, hip, and affluent all in a shoe…….How about something like the Porsche Cayman but in a shoe design………….Exactly, we’ll start with cheap rubber and plastic and we’ll finish it off with a hideous looking croc logo………………But wait, this looks like all our shoes, cheap plastic crap!…………..That’s the point, people aren’t buying the shoe, they’re buying the name Cayman because it’ll make them feel rich even though the shoe cost less than an oil change!…………..Brilliant…….Let’s just hope Porsche doesn’t sue us!”
  
  My point here is that unless Porsche has a taped recording like the one above then Porsche needs to stop picking on this little company.
  
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10. jimmyblaze260 days ago
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  I agree with 05Z88Path. But I also agree with johngalt those crocs are hideous. I think most people are smart enough to not associate a Croc Cayman with a Porshe Cayman. Get over yourself Porshe.
  
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11. Borat260 days ago
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  I decided not to comment on this crock of crap
  
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12. idrinorbarsaku260 days ago
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  Go PORSCHE! Crocs are the dumbest things on the planet!!
  
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13. johngalt260 days ago
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  The only thing worse might be a pair of Birkenstock Boxsters. Ooh, wait… Joe Boxsters! Yeah, boxer drawers with a pattern of little convertibles all over them!
  
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14. ejaculate_conception260 days ago
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  anything that will hurt the company that makes the ugliest and cheaperst quality shoes in the world deserves to be sued. Even the people stupid enough to buy and wear crocs should be sued by Porsche.
  
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15. DenverGuy217260 days ago
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  So should pepper manufacturers be able to sue Porsche over the (mis)use of the word ‘Cayenne’. What a joke of a lawsuit. Someone should take Ferdinand Piech behind a barn and beat him with a wet noodle if not for this frivolous lawsuit than for the ugly Panamera
  
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16. reedfast260 days ago
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  wow, porsche must really be out of money, if you read the article closely, you’ll see they want compensation for the cost of sending the cease and desist letter!
  
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17. leftwingagenda260 days ago
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  johngalt, i never thought i’d say this, but you need to apologize for apologizing!
  
  crocs caymans and porsche caymans…two caymans that rarely, if ever, meet…although, i’m sure at one point in time a cayman-driving cayman-wearer was bitten by a cayman on the cayman islands…
  
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18. johngalt260 days ago
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  Sorry (again).
  
  Better to be bitten by a Cayman on the Cayman Islands than by a croc on the ass.
  
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19. Yaroukh260 days ago
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  Maybe they should care less about shoes and more about Nissan GT-R which keeps kicking their ass everytime they meet.
  
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20. johnnycanuck260 days ago
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  leftwing, how much of your day did coming up with that one consume?
  
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21. A4260 days ago
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  It’s a fvcking type of crocodile, since when did Porsche own all rights ever to the word “Cayman”?
  
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22. e46Ne90260 days ago
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  lets settle this over the track boys. crocs cayman vs porsche cayman may the best 0-60mph time win
  
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23. johngalt260 days ago
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  e46Nwhatever: you forgot to include the Cayman reptile in the race. He might want to have a say in all this, too. Besides, he might win–he’s driving a Ferrari.
  
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24. Kell260 days ago
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  This is silly. And petty. What A4 said.
  
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25. Blakkarr260 days ago
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  Gods this is so stupid.
  
  If you want to call a car “The A” then you should be able to do so without some jack-@$$ coming along and saying “Nuh-uh! You can’t because we’re calling our krappy little butt-scratcher ‘The A’.”
  
  Frankly if I were a Judge, I would simply rule that unless CROCS can show they are actually building a CAR called “The Caymen”, then I rule summarily for PORSCHE. There is too much laying claim to a word as property going on.
  
  Pretty soon, someone will sue people on Youtube for saying “Hello, everybody”.
  
  I hope CROCS loses and some law is written to cover this issue.
  
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26. leftwingagenda260 days ago
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  the scary thing, johnny, is about 15 seconds…my mental word search is pretty quick…i’ve also had a metric assload of caffeine today…
  
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27. JakeK66260 days ago
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  Wait it’s a type of croc? What? So not only is it NOT named after the islands, but a type of croc sense the company’s name is Croc? That’s like suing apple for calling a computer a Macintosh. I mean this is low of the lows. Since this WAS pre-VW -maybe they were trying to finance the VW takeover by the most ridiculous lawsuits ever.
  
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28. leftwingagenda260 days ago
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  the crocs, inc. company has a market cap of 0.5B…can’t really buy VW with such piddly resources! exxon, on the other hand, could buy VW and liquidate it just out of spite…
  
  you reminded me that apple computer is constantly being sued by the beatles’ company “apple core” over trademark issues…admittedly i’m pro-apple computer, so this may seem a bit biased, but does anybody really confuse apple computer with the beatles in any respect?
  
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29. howsmydriving260 days ago
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  I would never confuse the Cayman shoes with the Porsche Cayman, but I do have trouble differentiating between Carrera Jeans and the Porsche Carrera….
  
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30. Pazzo Canguri260 days ago
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  Dont worry porsche is not the only one. Ferrari is trying to stop a woman from making her shoes in australia, her name is Dianna Ferrari, her PROPER name, and ferrari are trying to sue her to stop HER using HER name on HER shoes…
  
  go figure….pathetic really..
  
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31. reedfast260 days ago
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  in italy, there is actually a tractor brand named ferrari, perfectly legal. If they think that a tractor and a car are not confused, then a shoe and a car would seem just silly.
  
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32. aggie531260 days ago
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  Wow this is stupid. Whos gonna confuse a car with a shoe? You know Porsche is desperate for money if they do something outrageous as this.
  
  leftwingagenda —
  no
  
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33. netguru2000260 days ago
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  Porsche’s a bunch of turds. They could have lived sharing the name and no one would have been the wiser.
  
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34. Rafa LL260 days ago
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  That explain why my dog brings my car to my feet every morning…
  
  On a more serious note, Is Crocs using “Cayman” for a model or the suing is because of the “Crocs” name?
  I could see Lacoste suing Porsche as well…
  
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35. Rafa LL260 days ago
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  LWA, I’m 17 and I just realized that that famous Apple-Beatles thing has nothing to do with
  Apple Inc (Macs…).
  
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36. spg900260 days ago
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  Porsche is going about this the wrong way (especially if they’re strapped for cash) . They should play nice and maybe Croc will be nice enough to split the costs on the development of the next generation chassis which they can both use on their future models.
  
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37. scratchy259 days ago
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  this is either very stupid or something is omitted in the story.
  
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38. bdizzlefizzle259 days ago
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  What everyone is missing is that Crocs Caymans came out BEFORE the Porsche Cayman. The question is who trademarked the name first. If neither did, then Crocs wins.
  
  That’s what makes this frivolous. Porsche, technically, is right to sue because that’s part of copyright and trademark law – you must defend any usage of your marks or you forfeit the right to contest future usage. If they let this go, then some Chinese auto maker could make a rip off of the Cayman and call it the Cayman and get away with it.
  
  I bet Porsche has no intention of winning at all.
  
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39. phlabrasca259 days ago
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  Come on… Are you guys really that naive? Crocs registered the trademark, they have to defend it to maintain it and limit dilution.
  
  I certainly wouldn’t want my luxury automobile associated with an ugly shoe company.
  
  Toyota Motor Corp did the same thing with Lexus…. Some porn stars were using the Lexus name so they sued them. I think it’s a great way to protect the image of your company.
  
  Porsche isn’t seeking damages. , only for lawyer fees. This is a standard infringement case.
  
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40. n2k255 days ago
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  as much as I shudder at the sight of those hideous platforms, i do think this is a bit extreme. besides, what are incense loving flea market hippies supposed to wear now?
  
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