South Carolina apparel brand Fuel Clothing Co. Inc. filed a federal lawsuit against Nike Inc. this week claiming the company has violated its trademark of the word “fuel.”
Nike (NYSE: NKE) in January debuted the Nike+ FuelBand, a digital wristband that tracks the user’s activity rate using a new metric called “Nike Fuel.”
But Hilton Head-based Fuel Clothing, a maker of action sports-focused apparel and accessories, said in a lawsuit filed Monday in U.S. District Court in Columbia, S.C., that it owns the trademark for the word “fuel” and has used it to market and sell sporting goods, apparel and other related items “since at least April 1992.”
Both Nike and Fuel Clothing declined to comment Thursday.
Though Fuel’s trademark was registered for use on clothing, the company said it has also attained “common law trademark protection” related to sports products and goods sold to athletes.
Fuel Clothing’s lawsuit argues that Nike was aware of its trademark ownership, making efforts to trademark FuelBand and Nike Fuel under categories including “electrical and scientific apparatus,” "medical apparatus” and “jewelry” — “conspicuously avoiding class 25 (apparel), in which Fuel Clothing’s ‘FUEL’ mark has been long registered, despite the fact that the products offered by (Nike) are wearable apparel, and despite the fact that the bulk and core of (Nike’s) business is the sale of wearable sport apparel.”
Fuel Clothing said it contacted Nike and demanded that it “cease and desist” from using the “Fuel” mark, but its demands were ignored.
Fuel is seeking a jury trial and a judgment against Nike in excess of $75,000.
