DC Shoes Suing Gymkhana GRID Over Trademark Infringement
The viral success of Ken Block’s Gymkhana videos gave rise to the Gymkhana GRID competition, which is basically a bunch of fancy driving stunts masquerading was a real motorsport. The first one achieved commercial success, and a second event was planned for the end of October in Hollywood, Ca. Now, the event has been cancelled due to a pending legal dispute.
Gymkhana GRID’s founder Chris Willard had originally approached Ken Block and DC to collaborate on the events, and Block gave Willard his blessing to run the events. Somewhere along the line, things changed and DC Shoes attempted to trademark the name, while simultaneously issuing a cease-and-desist order to Willard to prevent him from using the name for his events.
While Willard seems unsure of why DC decided to pursue this course of action, a legal representative for Block told Autoblog that his client wanted to make sure that Gymkhana GRID was at a “… level where it’s supposed to be, and that it’s ran right and ethically.”
Without wading into murky legal territory, it’s safe to assume that there’s a serious case of not seeing eye-to-eye here and with a dearth of facts, it’s prudent to avoid making any judgement calls this early in the game.
[Source: Autoblog]
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