The North Face has sued the South Butt.  On Dec. 10, 2009, the North Face Inc. filed a complaint against the South Butt, in Federal Court in St. Louis.

Almost three years ago, Jimmy Winkelmann, who was at the time a high school student at Chaminade College Preparatory School, came up with the idea of the South Butt (see article from the Nov. Globe).  His idea was simple: to create a parody of the popular North Face brand of clothing.

In 2007, Winkelmann created the South Butt LLC and began selling South Butt clothing online and at Ladue Pharmacy, hoping to raise some money for college tuition while highlighting the teenage obsession with name-brand clothing.

“In parodying the North Face, the South Butt is basically for those who don’t want to buy the North Face, for those who don’t want to be one sheep in a flock of many,” said Albert Watkins, an attorney from Kodner Watkins Muchnick & Weigley, who is representing Winkelmann in the lawsuit.  Watkins explained how the South Butt is really an “anti-North Face” with the “anti-logo” and “anti-slogan.”

Similar to the North Face, the South Butt logo features two downward curves, in comparison to the three upward curves of the North Face logo.  Furthermore, the South Butt plays on the North Face’s slogan of “Never Stop Exploring” with the slogan, “Never Stop Relaxing.”

However, now the North Face has sued for the South Butt for trademark infringement.  The North Face’s complaint states that the South Butt’s “use of the Infringing Trademarks is likely to cause and is causing confusion, mistake and deception among the general purchasing public…all to the damage and detriment of The North Face’s reputation, goodwill, and sales.”

The South Butt’s attorney believes this claim to be frivolous.

“It seems kind of insulting on the part of the North Face, to believe that it’s customer base is so dumb as to not know the difference between a face and a butt,” Watkins said.

In fact, in response to the lawsuit, the South Butt recently posted a disclaimer on its website, which states, “We are not in any fashion related to nor do we want to be confused with The North Face Apparel Corp. or its products sold under “The North Face” brand. If you are unable to discern the difference between a face and a butt, we encourage you to buy North Face products.”

In addition, Watkins believes the complaint lacks merit because the South Butt is protected by the freedom of speech stated in the First Amendment.

“This is a parody product,” said Watkins.  “In other words, it is designed to make people laugh…There is something called the First Amendment to the United States Constitution.  It talks about freedom of speech…Just because you are a product with a trademark doesn’t mean you are exempt from another company making fun of you.”

Ironically, due to the lawsuit, the South Butt has received media coverage and interest from people around the country, which has significantly boosted sales and increased the popularity of the South Butt.  As a result, Watkins feels that the lawsuit has significantly lowered the reputation of the North Face.

“If [the North Face] wanted to do it to look bad, they’ve accomplished their goal,” Watkins said. “If they want to do it to appear like a bully in the playground, they’ve accomplished their goal…even if the North Face wins, they’ve lost.”