Looie James is fighting back with the help of Auckland laywers James & Wells. Photo / Dean Purcell
Looie James is fighting back with the help of Auckland laywers James & Wells. Photo / Dean Purcell
KEY POINTS:
The Kaukapakapa mother threatened with legal action by shoemaker to the stars Jimmy Choo over her company name is fighting back.
Looie James, owner of online gift seller Kookychoo.com, has been inundated with support since the Herald reported that luxury women's shoe manufacturer Jimmy Choo had demanded shedrop the Kookychoo name.
Now Auckland patent and trademark lawyers James & Wells have taken up the cudgels on her behalf.
Mrs James was stunned just before Christmas to receive a letter from Wellington intellectual property lawyers A.J. Park, on behalf of British-based Jimmy Choo, insisting that she cease using Kookychoo.
Jimmy Choo believed the names were too similar and could confuse customers, she said.
Kookychoo.com sells gifts such as bracelets and teddy bears. It does not sell shoes.
Lawyers told her she probably had a case, but it would cost $50,000 or more to fight it. With no access to that amount of money, the mother of seven was preparing to accede to the British company's demands.
The story went around the world, and Mrs James' inbox was flooded with offers of moral and financial support. She has also been sent copies of emails to Jimmy Choo deriding the fashion label for its heavy-handed action.
Visits to the Kookychoo website shot up from 50 a day to around 3000 in one three-day period.
Mrs James has heard from lawyers in the United States, a marketing company offering to rebrand her company free should it be forced to change its name, and a host of Kiwi small-to-medium enterprises urging her to take on the bigger company.
With the offer of pro bono help from James & Wells, Looie James is determined to stand her ground. Kookychoo has put a disclaimer on its website, saying: "We intend to fight this, and this is to let the whole world know that neither Kookychoo nor its products are in any way associated or connected to Jimmy Choo, never have been, and never will be."
Mrs James says Jimmy Choo's next move may be to seek an injunction temporarily closing the website.
Jimmy Choo, established in 1996 by former Vogue UK accessories editor Tamara Mellon and London shoemaker Jimmy Choo, was elevated to fashion icon status by the television series Sex and the City.
The show's main character Carrie Bradshaw, played by Sarah Jessica Parker, has a penchant for expensive shoe labels such as Choo and Manolo Blahnik, which sell for $700-$1000 a pair.
