Parody May Not Always Be a Winnable Defense
As teenager Jimmy Winkelmann discovered, a defense of clear parody may not be enough. He came up with the idea of marketing t-shirts under the name of “The South Butt” as a joke because of his classmate’s preference to wearing “The North Face” apparel. “The South Butt” logo is similar to “The North Face” but turned upside down with two ridges resembling butt cheeks. “The North Face” was not amused and sued for trademark infringement and dilution when Winkelmann tried to obtain federal trademark registration and then offered to sell his business for $1 million. While the terms of the settlement are confidential, “The South Butt” remains in business. Just another example why the proper insurance policy is a necessity in any business.
According to the 10/19/09 issue of National Underwriter, Chubb Group of Insurance Companies topped the Risk Manager Choice Awards for 2009 for individual lines of business. We congratulate Chubb and are proud to be a Managing General Underwriter for them.
Insurance fraud rose during the first quarter of 2009 as reported by the National Insurance Crime Bureau. For that quarter suspicious car fires increased by 27%; suspect slip and fall accidents rose by 77% and potentially bogus workers’ compensation claims increased by 71%.
2008 Catastrophic Losses Third Highest
Munich Reinsurance Co. announced that global natural catastrophe losses made 2008 the third most expensive year on record after 2005 and 1995.
Overall losses in 2008 were $200 billion exceeding the 2005 hurricanes Katrina, Rita and Wilma and the 1995 Kobe earthquake in Japan.
The full report is available at www.munichre.com
