Food Coop v. Barney's?
Subject: Food Coop v. Barney's?
Something about a lawsuit the Food Coop might bring against Barney's. I didn't read it, but thought other people might be interested in it.http://gawker.com/5518109/park-slope-hipsters-resist-manhattan-fashion-invasion
Comments
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Well, this might be the first instance where our Coop is referred to as Hipsters in a headline.
The Coop's Twitter feed comments...
http://twitter.com/foodcoopfoodcoop wrote: Just to clarify PSFC is not sueing Barneys or anyone else. Headline says "challenges". That's more like it.
I find this hilariousThe Barneys Co-op has been using the name for 25 years, plus they've had it trademarked, so they don't believe they're vulnerable to any kind of legal attack. But since only a food coop can bring a lawsuit against an organization abusing the term, it's possible that Barneys has been able to get away with it for the past quarter-century only because it hasn't antagonized any powerful hippie conglomerates.
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somewhere there are stats on the average age of coop members, right? ...my sense is that most are between 35 and 45.
too old to be hipsters.
are we still in an era where media believes anyone who avoids Kraft foods and frozen dinners is regarded as a freak of some variety?
(is Gawker written in Ohio?) -
The Park Slope Food Coop needs a hobby. Seriously.
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whynot_31 wrote: somewhere there are stats on the average age of coop members, right? ...my sense is that most are between 35 and 45.
right?
too old to be hipsters.
are we still in an era where media believes anyone who avoids Kraft foods and frozen dinners is regarded as a freak of some variety?
(is Gawker written in Ohio?)
Gawker needs a hobby.
I don't know how this all got going, but I respect Holtz. Of course he's right - a co-op is a co-op, not a Barney's. Upscale schmatahouse, meet actual alternative business model. -
As if somebody is actually going to become confused by the word when Barneys in Manhattan has been using it for 25 years. It would be a frivolous lawsuit, wasting time and tying up the courts from hearing real matters.
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uh, Flexi...reading comprehension before faux online outrage about tying up the court system
foodcoop wrote: Just to clarify PSFC is not sueing Barneys or anyone else. Headline says "challenges". That's more like it.
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Um, Pitu, "It WOULD BE...." queue reading comprehension yourself. :twisted:
I won't bother waiting on the apology since god knows that's not your style :roll: -
meh, "would be" except it's not TRUE
Aren't you the one who posted the when-did-you-stop-punching-kittens Animal Kind vet story? Hence, online fake outrage. When will you learn? O, I know, it's a hobby. Carry on! -
Of course the coop can do no wrong. Doesn't that ever get old?
I RE-posted the Animal Kind story which I think opened up some legit questions. It may not have had the best title for a thread (and the original story title said "ASPCA Doc Kicked Dying Dog, Colleagues Say"), but read it again and show me where I actually ACCUSED anybody of anything. Or can you not actually find that? I didn't think so.
maybe you should go back and read the "play nice" section of the rules, o moderator. -
Flexichick wrote:
I RE-posted the Animal Kind story which I think opened up some legit questions. It may not have had the best title for a thread, but read it again and show me where I actually ACCUSED anybody of anything. Or can you not actually find that? I didn't think so.Flexichick wrote: Did Animal Kind Vet Kick and Punch Dying Dog?????
^^ That was was your headline, an accusation. Same kind of inflammatory unsubstantiated thing, and damaging to a vet who eventually got a lot of support and positive feedback from the regular users of this site who actually know him.
WTF?
But back to the topic at hand.
Would the Coop be the Coop without defending its name and alternative business model within its community? I can see how they'd get bumped out of Google searches for "Brooklyn Coop" by the Barney's buzz. That's a drag. They have as much right to their own name as anyone else. -
Whatever. Fight with yourself. You seem to enjoy it. I don't feel like wasting more energy with your ridiculousness.
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Yeah!/
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I'm glad some people are spending their 2 3/4 hour shifts worrying about meaningless stuff like this. I should skip my next shift in protest.......but then my squad leader would make me work two. This is where principles fly out the window. This is how Bush's second term happened.
FWIW, Co-op members come in all shapes, sizes, and age groups. I should know because I work checkout. The ones who seem like they've been in the Slope since the plane crash in '62 do tend to be the nuttier ones, though. -
This is just sad. Nobody is ever going to confuse the food coop with a clothing store. Crap like this is one of the many reasons that people make fun of Park Slope.
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Lawsuit or not, I'm really excited about Barney's version of the coop than the PS's!
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i don't see how the PS Coop would have standing to sue Barney's, or challenge them in any way.
The best they could do would be to raise a big enough stink that an attorney general decides to take up the case. -
I challenge the use of the word "empire" as it pertains to New York State, and the many permutions of this wrongful use, including the "Empire State Building." New York is not an empire. Please stop.
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vidro3 wrote: i don't see how the PS Coop would have standing to sue Barney's, or challenge them in any way.
I haven't looked into the legal aspects of this at all, but I got the sense that this was like a sort of unfair competition law, where the only parties with standing to sue are those who are "harmed" by the inappropriate use of the term (and the AG only gets involved if they want to). Sort of like trademark cases; the law is on the books but there is almost never a suit unless brought by a private entity. I imagine that quoted attorney or whatever wasn't quite right in saying that only food coops would have standing to sue; I imagine any other sort of cooperative corporation in the area would have standing as well, since the perceived "damage" would be deception about the nature of coops. Or something like that.
The best they could do would be to raise a big enough stink that an attorney general decides to take up the case.
And for what it is worth (here's me helping coop attorneys with the likelihood of confusion issue) - I'm not a Barney's shopper and never heard of the barney's coop so when I first heard it was coming I was like "wtf? clothes at fixed markup? do you have to be a member?" -
Toadette wrote: ...so when I first heard it was coming I was like "wtf? clothes at fixed markup? do you have to be a member?"
+1 -
Flexichick wrote: I don't feel like wasting more energy with your ridiculousness.
yes you do. It's practically all you have left. -
I agree w/Flexi. The food coop needs to get a hobby. It's waste of money and the courts time.
"“I would say I haven’t decided yet,” Holtz said, but he is definitely considering it — on principle: “It’s a new thing having a co-op in Brooklyn that’s not a co-op. There is something wrong with that.”
A spokeswoman for Barneys, Dawn Brown, scoffed at the notion that their boutique stores is in violation of the law.
“The year 2010 will be our 25th anniversary since opening the co-op,” said Brown. “We’ve been using this phrase for a long time.”
And, Brown added, the term “Barneys Co-Op” — the name that the company gives to spinoff stores of its more-familiar, high-end Barneys locations — is trademarked.
“We’ve gone through all the legal channels to have this name,” she said."
Perfect comment from Gawker:
"Don't be surprised if they find a Barney's executive tied up with stroller marks all over his body." -
if the ps coop can convince the court that people trying to buy discounted food were duped into buying expensive designer clothes instead, then they may have a case.
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I think the Park Slope Food Coop should sue every business that uses Park Slope in its name. Think of the confusion when a Coop member goes into Park Slope Tire looking for macrobiotically balanced wheat germ. Oh the horrors!!
#utterlyrediculous -
good article in Crain's summarizes the business...
http://www.crainsnewyork.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20100418/REG/304189959
(requires free registration) -
I thought this was a joke when I first heard about it.
It's just lame, and quite sad... -
I heard that Garfield the Cat is suing Garfield Street, and that there is a class action suit against Carroll Street by all women named Carol.
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lnelson wrote: I heard that Garfield the Cat is suing Garfield Street, and that there is a class action suit against Carroll Street by all women named Carol.
and President street is suing to force Presidents to live there -
and the borough of Brooklyn is suing brooklynian.com for defaming the name. Now we're all under arrest. Have a nice day.
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Get over yourselves. Can anyone explain to me why Barney's is a coop? Oh, right, they're not. Sorry for wasting you time.
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snarlsdottir wrote: Get over yourselves. Can anyone explain to me why Barney's is a coop? Oh, right, they're not. Sorry for wasting you time.
And we can all thank god that the Park Slope Food Coop is there to protect us from the mayhem, confusion and anarchy that results from Barney's obviously misleading use of the word. After all - they need to do something with all that money they have laying around. I mean - if the civil court system is not there for situations such as this - I don't know why we have one.
Now in which aisle does Barneys stock conflict free wheat germ again? :roll:
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