Post #220770 by mrs. pineapple on Tue, Mar 14, 2006 3:49 PM

http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2006/03/14/BAGK4HNF2K1.DTL

Apparently some company in Florida is suing anyone using the name Sweet Pea...

**The thriving Internet marketplace has been touted by many as the great economic equalizer, a place where the mom and pop shop can compete with the big bucks retailers.

But 52 small-time Internet retailers, including a Novato woman who put her daughter's pet name "Sweet Pea" on T-shirts and tried to sell them, are finding that may not be the case.

A Florida company, Sweet Pea Limited Inc., filed a federal lawsuit in January charging 34-year-old Laura Ostrowski and a variety of other Internet retailers around the country with trademark infringement after they put 'sweet pea' on baby clothes.

The company registered the term "Sweet Pea" with the United States Patent and Trademark Office in 1997. The mark became incontestable in 2003. The lawsuit is demanding $16 million from each violator.**

I will pledge $5 if we need to mount a legal defense fund for our own Sweet Pea.

"You're the mayor of shark city, people think you want the beaches open."

[ Edited by: mrs. pineapple 2006-03-14 15:52 ]