The Bandon Name Issue
Source: Western
World, Volume 91, No. 48
Title of Article: Bandon, Who owns that name anyway?
Author: Mary Schamehorn
A couple that own
an RV park named Bandon Coastal Ventures,
LLC received a letter from Bandon Cheese Inc.
Kathy Holstad, marketing director of Bandon Cheese Inc, working out of the company’s home office in Tillamook, wrote: “It has come to our attention that you are using the mark “Bandon’ in the name of your business” and claimed that the word “Bandon” is the federally registered trademark of Bandon Cheese. “Your use of the Bandon name may cause consumer confusion with our own mark. If you could please let me know what type of business Bandon Coastal Ventures, LLC is I could then determine if there is any reason for concern.”
The RV park owners sent a copy of the letter to Bandon City Manager Matt Winkel.
Winkel emailed Holstadt, informing her that Bandon was incorporated in 1891, and that many local businesses use the name Bandon in their name, and asked her “Please advise me regarding specifically what claims Bandon Cheese is making regarding the use of the word ‘Bandon’ in the name of the City of Bandon, or in the name of any other businesses.”
Holstad replied: “We do have a federally registered trademark, “Bandon’s”, and we are in the process of updating it to ‘Bandon’, she added.
Winkel responded:
“Your claim has become a major issue here,
since it has the potential to significantly impact municipal and
business
operations in the community. In
addition, there is the specter of potentially costly litigation
regarding the
use of the name ‘Bandon’. Since the City
of
Holstad then responded: “I want to reassure you that no one here claims to ‘own’ the word ‘Bandon’. In particular, the use of the word in connection with a reference to a geographic locality is without question unobjectionable. Consumers can become confused if more than one vendor offers goods or services under similar brand names.”