Whale trademark suit against York County retailer is dismissed, but others still targeted
Photo / William Hall
The trademark infringement suit against Mountain Tops Inc., whose Kennebunkport store is shown here, has been dismissed.
A York County retailer that was sued earlier this month for allegedly infringing on the trademark of clothier chain Vineyard Vines LLC is off the hook.
The Connecticut-based company last week ended its suit against Mountain Tops Inc., which is based in Arundel and sells T-shirts, hoodies and other clothing at two shops in Ogunquit and one in Kennebunkport.
Vineyard Vines voluntarily dismissed all claims without prejudice against Mountain Tops, according to a court filing. But the dismissal did not change the suit against co-defendant Lakeshirts Inc., a Minnesota-based supplier to Mountain Tops.
The Aug. 3 complaint alleged that both Mountain Tops and Lakeshirts sold clothing that intentionally mimicked the Vineyard Vines logo, “a smiling whimsical left-facing anthropomorphic whale.” The complaint sought unspecified damages and an injunction against future sales of the products.
On Monday, Mountain Tops co-owner Chuck Frazier told Mainebiz, "I was notified of the dismissal on Aug. 19 by email from Vineyard Vines' North Carolina attorney. The email did not explain why the suit was filed against us in the first place, nor why it was being withdrawn now. We are glad to put it behind us, however."
Soon after learning of the suit, Mountain Tops had pulled from its shelves a "relatively small" quantity of Lakeshirts infant and toddler garments that displayed a whale image, Frazier said last week.
An attorney for Vineyard Vines issued a statement this week, saying, "Mountain Tops has been very cooperative in taking the product in question off shelves and we appreciate their efforts.”
The Vineyard Vines logo dates to at least 2003, and received a federal registration in 2005. The company has put it on an ever-expanding line of casual preppy apparel, including not only ties but shirts, shorts, hats and accessories.
Vineyard Vines employs over 2,800 people and operates 127 stores that stretch from Freeport to 31 other states, the District of Columbia and Bermuda. Annual sales hit $476 million in 2016, according to Forbes magazine.
Mountain Tops is a family business, founded in 1980 and today owned by Frazier, his mother and his sister. It employs 20 to 30 people, many of them seasonally.
Over the past seven years, Vineyard Vines has sued more than a dozen businesses for trademark infringement. They include another Maine company, Patrick’s Inc., a Bangor-based retailer that operates a souvenir shop in Bar Harbor. The 2016 case was ultimately dismissed.
Vineyard Vines also filed a $12 million suit against Margaret Josephs, a former star of the reality TV show "The Real Housewives of New Jersey," who allegedly used the leviathan logo in her luxury goods business, the Macbeth Collection. That case was settled in 2018 after legal costs nearly bankrupted Josephs, according to media reports.
In addition to the continuing claims against Lakeshirts, another Vineyard Vines trademark suit, in Connecticut, is also pending.
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