South Butt Wins Trademark Battle Over North Face

​No, you are not reading the Onion: The South Butt really has prevailed in the trademark lawsuit brought by The North Face, the outdoors-wear giant favored by sorority girls attending 9:00 a.m. Spanish lit class. The two companies have settled in undisclosed terms, but judging from its web site, The South Butt is still able to use its name and what looks suspiciously like the North Face mountain logo - inverted to look like an ass. (Hat tip to Courthouse News.)  

Backing up: The North Face, the company started by two hikers in North Beach back in the 1960's, sued South Butt's ass last year. North Face claimed the company was trying to bank off the North Face's success by unfair competition and would confuse consumers. Satire is always funny until it affects your bottom line.


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The South Butt wasn't having any of it. The company was started in 2007 by Jimmy Winkelmann, Jr., a student at the University of Missouri-Columbia, to help pay his tuition during the recession. While The North Face's logo urges consumers to "Never stop exploring" (while wearing its fleece jackets, at least), South Butt's slogan tells people to "Never stop relaxing" in its "mall," "cafe" and "couch" series of leisurewear. Apparently, South Butt's business has gone bonkers ever since North Face sued.

St. Louis attorney Albert Watkins, who represented South Butt, had some fighting words for a University of Missouri student newspaper the Maneater:  "We're just entirely delighted that The North Face has taken those steps necessary to publicly humiliate itself by attempting to bulldoze little Jimmy Winkelmann into submission."

Since the settlement terms are undisclosed, we can't know for sure what the South Butt had to fork over. But it seems the South Butt has had the lasst laugh.