Late last year The North Face sued 18-year-old Jimmy Winkelmann because, as the lawsuit stated, The South Butt is trying to "legitimize piracy under the banner of parody."
Winkelmann thought his classmates at school were perversely obsessed with The North Face, and set out to mock their mindless consumerism and the apparel they wore to invoke status.
In addition to the opposite-end name and logo, Winkelmann used the product tag line, "Never Stop Relaxing," a parody of The North Face line, "Never Stop Exploring."
After starting the small business in 2007, Winkelmann's sales amounted to a couple thousand dollars a year, but after the lawsuit was announced and the subsequent media attention he received, his sales skyrocketed to as high as $100,000 in a single month!The North Face recently settled its lawsuit against the teenager and his company. Terms were not disclosed in the settlement agreement, but The South Butt was still offering products on its website.
“The matter has been amicably resolved between the parties,” said Albert Watkins, the attorney for The South Butt. He declined further comment.
As I mentioned in my original posting on this story, clearly The North Face has a legitimate beef with Winkelmann regarding the logo, however, I'm not so sure about the name or the tag line.
But, as Attorney Watkins was once quoted as saying “the consuming public is well aware of the difference between a face and a butt …”
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Jeff
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