I’m facing the reality that the last year of my business life has not been, well, fabulous. I’ve dealt with the reality that my beloved business partner now works for someone else, and the days of giggling and plotting and scheming and making money together are over. I’ve also dealt with the humungo (yes, I know it’s not a word) impact that CPSIA is having and will have going forward. I’ve dealt with the reality of our shite economy, but just barely. I’m certainly not sitting on a pile of cash, cackling maniacally over my world domination of the onesie snapsuit world.
I was having one of those great days, today, though. I’ve been managing to pay cash for all of the nap mat inventory as I ramp up toward the infamous nap mat season. I’ve been able to pay down our debt, even though I haven’t been able to pay me. And all in all, things can only get better. Or so I thought.
About two years ago, we received a standard cease and desist letter from an agency on behalf of baby behemoth Gerber(tm). It wasn’t even from a lawyer. Neither Jennifer or I was too upset about it - we knew it was coming based on things we’d heard through the baby apparel grapevine. Did you know that Gerber(tm) invented the onesie(tm)? Yep, they did. Some of our manufacturers are in the know and call them snappy terms like “snapsuit” or my personal unfavorite, “creeper”. If you use the word onesie (TM!!! TM!!!) you must be sure that you are talking about a design on a genuine (TM) Gerber (TM) onesie (TMx140). Unfortunately, when we started the company, we thought like marketers and not lawyers. In other words, people searching online don’t usually search for “funny creepers” or “infant snapsuits”. So, we named our company SassyOnesies.com.
During the first round of worrying about the cease and desist letter, Jennifer called up an IP attorney she’d worked with at a local law firm. He saw the letter and told us to remove the word “onesie (TM!!! this is getting old!)” from our site as a description. We did. We have over 500 products on there - it took QUITE a while. His other advice, since all we were really worried about was them making us change the domain name, was to start stocking Gerber (TM) onesies (TM). We did. The theory being, if we actually carry GerberOnesiesTMTMTMTMTM we can theoretically call our site SassyOnesies.com. Or so he thought.
Fast forward to today, and my cease and desist letter from Gerber. (You can read it here: Letter.pdf)
Now they are specifically stating we must change our domain name. Good times! The virtual cherry on my shit sundae!
I wrote back, but it won’t do anything. I’m married to a lawyer; they laugh at emotion or pleading.
My game plan is to call in a couple of favors to attorneys. I know I have a leg to stand on - you can make a case for terms that have become common vernacular language. Most people don’t even know that there are other words for onesies (TM!) until you point it out to them. And after years and years of owning the word, can we just all get along? Can we share nicely? Menacing Pickle (possibly the best name EVER) suggested that I’m possibly adding value to the onesie (TM) name by having high quality versions. I’m not afraid to say that the majority of the SNAPSUITS we sell are thicker and softer than you-know-whos. In that case, we’re giving them a GOOD name. Fidget suggested one better - we change our logo, and name, to “Sass Yonesies”. I’m pretty sure they would see through that one, but man did it make me giggle thinking about people trying to pronounce it! My Michigan friend Christina suggested kicking Gerber’s butt. My Minnesota friend Kristin suggested boycotting them, and snapsuit (no TM) manufacturer Mary Carter of Gifts of Wit suggested starting a “I hate Gerber” Facebook group. She volunteered to be my first member. I’m so glad I have all of their support because if nothing else, they made me laugh.
If I cannot fight this, then the future is fairly clear. I cannot afford to start up again under a new name and lose all of the search engine work we’ve done to this point. It’s cost us literally thousands (some of which we have yet to pay back) to get to the point we’re at. I have a room full of inventory. If we are forced to change domain names, SassyOnesies.com (TM!) will be closed. I’ll be on the street, naked with a raincoat, whispering in a sultry voice, “Hey, WANNA BUY A CREEPER?” Don’t laugh. It could happen.
In the meantime, I am shaking my fist at the sky, at karma, at everything, and saying, “What the heck did I DO TO YOU??? COME ON!!!!”
** Update: Menacing Pickle, being a huge dork, found out that these phrases used to be TMd: yo-yo, mimeograph, crockpot, kerosene, heroin, linoleum, trampoline, dry ice, pilates, cellophane nylon, thermos, escalator and aspirin.
I have to say I had zero idea that Gerber owned the term Onesie(TM TM TM). I don’t even associate it with Gerber- it’s become THAT common. Any kind of body suit with snappies in the diaper area and no legs on it is a onesie to me. and I think Sass Yonsies has a nice ring to it, ROFL
That letter is crapola! I checked a few of the URLs they are bitchin’ about and I can’t see the work “onesie” (TM to infinity and beyond) anywhere on the page. What jerks. Maybe an anti-Gerber movement is a good idea. Show them how bullying a little company affects that reputation they are oh so worried about.
Christina, I had already removed the offending word from those links. They were just overlooked during the first clean up. When you are editing by hand over 500 pages of products, mistakes happen.
FUCK THEM! Seriously! I have never heard of something so absurd in my whole life. In this economy this huge conglomerate wants to put a small business owner out of business because of the use of one freaking word. Unbelievable! I’m sorry Homey, I hope that you really don’t have to go out of business over this. I am totally in for anti-Gerber campaign!
A friend of mine who works in the patent business, thinks you should call the US patent office and ask them if that word is still legally suable. She recalls examples like “Kleenex” . They tried for a long time to sue over that word, but finally had to give it up as the word became cultural lingo. She thinks they wouldn’t have a case. anyways, worth a call.
My 3 grown kids all wore onesies (TM to the moon) and I never knew it was Gerber related. What year did they patent the product? What a bunch of crap. They should be paying you for improving their image by association with your quality product. OMFG
The letter says that your use of the term can cause serious harm to Gerber! Poor Gerber! WHAT THE CRAP?????????
I hope the Gerber lawyers are reading this too, because I have this to say: I HAVE BOUGHT MY LAST ONESIE (TM)!
How about “Sass Yo Nesies” instead? Easier to pronounce, although people may think it has more to do with homeys than babies.
Totally ridiculous. I hope you can get this worked out!!
OK, calm rational lawyer stepping in on this. “Onesies” were invented by Gerber in 1982 so the trademark isn’t really all that old. I agree that you can make the argument that it is the generic word for that article of clothing but I’d hate to tackle Gerber in court; they have already proved willing to go to great lengths to protect their trademark. SassySnapsuits is a cute name but I can’t imagine anyone finding it when they are looking for a “onesie.” So again, I think it is a compelling argument that the name has become synonymous with the item. Any class action attorneys out there willing to take up the battle? Also, in my sister’s best interest, please be careful with the Gerber-bashing. Since she is a competitor and I think the sites are linked, it could cause her further problems. Thanks Internet!!
I’m just speechless. I just… I can’t… What…
Sigh.
I seriously don’t know what to say. I didn’t know Gerber created onesies (TM!). I had no clue.
Can you get away with SassyOneSies or Sassy One Sies or SassyOne-sies? Sassy One Sees? Sassy 1Z? I don’t know. I’m talking out of my ass.
Geez, Cristina.
So, Jess already threw out an effenheimer for me, so I can skip that part… But man…what a joke. I am so angry. I like all of your friend’s suggestions, but what it boils down to is, does Gerber really need to pursue this!? C’mon big “G”...give it up. Oh, and FYI - my pediatrician hates your babyfood. So there.
Good luck Homes~ I truly hope this works out for the best for you.
Hey CDB,
Ok, so this is frustrating. I am going to take your sister’s advice and not bash Gerber. I do however have a thought. When searching for onesies online SOOOOO MANY things pop up. What if you did your own research and found all the websites/companies that use the term. I would think that would do two things. 1. it would show the name is main stream (just like Kleenex) and 2. it will show Gerber all the work they would have getting all these companies to follow trademark laws. Even Target uses Onesies in their google ads. If they don’t force others to stop using it, they can’t force you to stop… maybe….kinda….. sorta…..
There are also other companies using the term onesie in their domain name. Maybe you can call and ask them if they have been contacted, see what their doing about it. Assuming you haven’t done all this already.
Although I am probably the worst person to talk to about this. I am spawned from an Italian father who thinks all rules were made to be broken.
wow I just think there has to be a way to fight this! it seems so unreal, I had “onesies” for all 4 of my girls and I had NOOOOO idea they were Gerber!
I also like Lydia’s word play on your name!!
OMFG. Ok this is what happens when I don’t keep up with blogs.
Assholes. I am totally down with the I hate Gerber ™ group.
It is unbelievable that this is happening. Gimme a call
Oh no way! Maybe you could offer to sell them the domain name for $1M.
I just got the same email from Gerber today actually, I am a small business owner in Kansas who has organic, nice, so called ‘dumbies’ on my website. I have 7 days to remove all association. It’s so sad that they are that HARD up…will never buy another Gerber product!!!!!