Cardigan Bay versus San Francisco Bay

We thought we could put our own name on our jean wherever we liked. It seemed like common sense to us. In the same way as a car manufacturer can put their name on the boot, the bonnet, the grill, hey on the roof if they want. Or an orange juice maker can put his name on the carton on any side he chooses. That assumption is a big mistake if you make jeans. Somehow, Levis have attained a patent on the position of the tab. This seems just one step too far to us. Common sense had been lost when this decision had been made. Before we could even write a press release, we were on the front page of the Teifi-Side (our local paper). From there it went all around the world.

Their point of view was that there was confusion in the market place between Levis and howies and therefore we would have to stop selling howies jeans. Or they would take legal action. What followed was what we called 'operation tickle'. You can't slay a giant but you can help him get his sense of humour back. Oh boy did we have some fun with these guys.

We introduced a colour-blind test for people buying our jeans. Just to make sure they could tell the difference between grey (ours) and theirs (red). We also introduced a spelling test, too. We asked our customers to spell corporation, oppression, Machiavellian etc. Of course they had to spell Levis and howies as well. If people failed the spell test, we refused to sell them the jeans. We sent out howies tabs to disgruntled Levis owners who could replace the levis tab with ours. We then got some stickers made to cover up our tab, we got a local machinist to sew the stickers on whilst wearing a blindfold. We didn't want to implicate her in anyway. Everything we did just got more and more publicity.

In the end the lawyers (they only have one client) acting on behalf of Levis asked for a private meeting to stop all the publicity. We said sure, but we will need to hire a big room to fit all the press in. They didn't like that idea too much. In which case we said the only way to sort this out was to sit down and sort it out like adults. And arm wrestle for the rights. We are still awaiting a response.
Thanks to the radio stations, the newspapers, the TV news channels, the magazines, the websites, the chat rooms, the free legal advice and you guys and gals out there who told all your mates who told their mates.

Guess no one likes a bully.

More info

www.uspto.gov
usa's trademark and patent office.

www.freeadvice.org
Free legal advice.

www.corpwatch.org
Keeps an eye on those big guys.

Total number of USA howies jeans sales: 1 (and we know who bought it).