Trademark Law
Trademark Concerns Derail Auction of Motorized Recliner That Isn’t a La-Z-Boy
Posted Nov 3, 2009, 12:51 pm CST
By Debra Cassens Weiss
Bidding had reached more than $40,000 on a motorized recliner seized after its owner was accused of driving the chair home from a bar while drunk.
But the eBay auction of the “Motorized La-Z-Boy Chair” was halted after La-Z-Boy complained that the recliner was not one of its products, according to stories in the Proctor Journal, the Minneapolis Star Tribune and the Duluth News Tribune. The improper name “didn’t sit" well with La-Z-Boy, and the company raised trademark concerns, according to the Star Tribune.
Proctor, Minn., Police Chief Walter Wobig has listed the chair under a new name—a “DWI Chair, Motorized Chair, Racing Chair,” according to CNBC. The new listing has restarted the auction, with the starting bid at $500.
Hat tip to Pat’s Papers.