US bicycle brand Specialized found itself at the centre of a social media storm over the weekend after the company's lawyers contacted the owner of a Calgary bike shop to order him to stop using the word "Roubaix" in the name of his business.
Dan Richter, a military veteran who left the army with post-traumatic stress disorder after a tour of Afghanistan, invested his life savings to open the Café Roubaix Bicycle Studio in March 2013 - but Specialized's lawyers got in touch to inform him that the use of the word Roubaix infringed their trademark relating to their bicycle of the same name.
Richter asserts that he chose the name in homage to Paris-Roubaix, the iconic French bike race:
"I had assumed I could not register Roubaix as a trademark as it is a geographical location well known in cycling, not to mention the wide-spread use of the term Roubaix throughout the industry," said Richter in a press release. "I thought I could freely use Roubaix. To be informed I cannot use the name is devastating. I invested my life savings, military severance pay, as well as all my Veteran's Affairs award for my illness into Café Roubaix."
Specialized claim they are obliged to enforce their trademark or risk losing it, stating:
"A simple trademark search would have prevented this. We are required to defend or lose our trademark registration."
However, Specialized's decision to mobilise their legal team has attracted widespread criticism online, with vociferous support for Richter in the face of what many see as corporate bullying from the cycling giant. A number of social media users have added the word "Roubaix" to their profile names in protest.
A story that was already threatening to become a PR disaster for Specialized took a further twist last night with Advanced Sport International claiming that Specialized do not in fact own the Roubaix trademark, but merely license it for use in Canada. ASI own the Fuji bicycle brand, which also has a model named the Roubaix.
According to Bicycle Retailer and Industry News, "ASI says it owns the worldwide rights to the Roubaix trademark ... and has licensed it to Specialized since 2003." The company's International CEO Pat Cunnane says Specialized "did not have the authority" to stop Richter from using the Roubaix name, and that he is happy for Richter to continue to use the name for his bicycle shop.
"We have reached out to Mr Richter to inform him that he can continue to use the name, and we will need to license his use, which we imagine can be done easily," Cunnane said.
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