LOS ANGELES — Don't mess around with the Rhino.
That's what Spearmint Rhino Cos. Worldwide inferred in its $250,000 infringement suit against the distributor of the Rhino revolver, saying that its manufacturer and distributor is stomping on its marks.
In a suit filed Monday at federal court in Los Angeles, Spearmint Rhino, which licenses its brand of gentlemens clubs and ancillary products worldwide, says that Chiappa Firearms has been marketing for two years a revolver that includes its "Rhino outline" marks.
Spearmint Rhino President and COO Kathy Vercher told XBIZ that the revolver includes logos that resemble the company's unique mark with rhinoceros' nose horns. Likely to cause confusion, she noted, the revolver also includes words, terms, names and symbols similar to the brand.
"We've spent a lot of time and money coming up with this trademark," Vercher said. "And some might get confused and think we actually are selling the gun."
Company officials from Chiappa Firearms of Dayton, Ohio, did not return phone messages for XBIZ comment.
The suit seeks damages, as well as injunctive relief and attorneys fees.
