Gap Sues Gapnote over Trademark Infringement

In a legal battle over trademarks to rival that of Skype and BSkyB, high street retailer Gap has decided to sue the social networking startup Gapnote, citing the latter intention to “deceive consumers and generate interest in its own social media and networking site”.

It emerged that the clothes retailer has demanded the cessation of the use of the word 'gap' by the website, and that it concede the domain URL to Gap. The clothing store has insisted that the striking similarities between the two companies is potentially damaging to them, referring to the proximity of not only the word itself and the similar font used, but also of the goods and services offered under the Gapnote brand. With regards to the latter, this seems somewhat ill-informed.

Gapnote is a social networking site, founded in 2007 by a London based student. It's aim is to enable users to document the past and present, as well as communicating with future generations via the creation of a note. It is an online time capsule, providing a platform not only for the standard form of online social communication which occupies much of the average user's digital activity, but also to create living records directed at those still to come.

How then, that the services provided by Gapnote can be described as similar to those of Gap, a clothes shop, is bewildering. The belief that there is an imminent threat from the social media site for a brand so well-known and influential as Gap is simply unfounded.

To blatant appropriation of another recognisable brand by another smaller company for their own benefit is one thing, to threaten such a business with legal proceedings over the use of an arbitrary term such as gap is another entirely. Gap cannot claim a monopoly on the word; it existed before the shop, and will continue to exist when the shop does not.

This entire episode appears to be an example of a large company flexing their corporate muscle, ensuring that their financial success is in no way impeded. The branches of the Gap tree are protruding further from the trunk in an attempt to disguise any budding goodies which may be hidden at the roots.

In terms of online coverage, a search for 'gap' on Google UK returns no results for Gapnote within the top 100 pages, a note in itself indicating the sheer might of the clothing company over the social networking site. In fact, the very existence of Gapnote may even prove to be of greater benefit than detriment to the success of Gap in terms of search engine optimisation, with the appearance of Gap within the SERPs returned from a Google search on Gapnote providing extra opportunity for further Gap traffic.

It seems that the high street brand are keen to bridge the gap between copyright infringement and the incidental usage of words by different companies. The bridge must be built on the evidence of the likelihood of confusion between the brands, without which any hopes of exterminating the Gapnote threat will falter.