The North Face Settles Trademark Infringement Case With Apparel Seller

By Brendan Menapace

In September of last year, The North Face sued a small Raleigh, North Carolina, apparel seller over an imitation logo that referenced drug dealing.

Now, the case has been settled, and the seller, who made apparel with "The Trap Face" on it, is prohibited from selling his products that infringed on the logo.

The North Face filed a complaint in September that the seller, Malik Grubbs, "copied and infringed" on their trademark half-dome logo and typeface.

For The North Face, even a subconscious association with drug dealing is damaging to the brand, and it makes sense that it wanted to nip the problem in the bud. It's like how Patagonia took action against an oil industry company that parodied its logo for shirts.

In September, Grubbs said that his logo wasn't close enough to The North Face's to infringe on the trademark, but obviously changed his tune once the apparel brand lawyered up.

According to Triangle Business Journal, the judgment states act Grubbs can no longer manufacture, import, advertise, market, promote, supply or sell products that bear "one ore more of The North Face Trademarks or marks confusingly similar thereto."

So, essentially, those Trap Face products are out.

The settlement also prevents Grubbs from engaging in anything that could tarnish the North Face trademarks.