Wednesday, January 09, 2008


No Mister Bond, I expect you to die...

Gaia, The Non-Blonde posted an interesting article about perfumer Liz Zorn getting heat from Niche perfumer Bond No 9. Bond is a New York based niche house with about 70 or so perfumes in signature star-shaped bottles. Liz Zorn is an Ohio-based perfumer who I believe is not carried by any department stores. Bond No 9 has a scent called "The Scent of Peace". Liz Zorn had a scent called "Peace on Earth". Apparently, Bond feels that they own the word "Peace" when applied to scent and sent off a nasty "cease and desist" letter to Ms. Zorn. Oddly, they seem to not have gone after Bath and Bodyworks or Kenzo for their fragrances with "peace" in the name.

This sort of corporate bullying goes on all the time, of course, and the companies that do this sort of thing do so partly because they have to; otherwise it could be construed as letting go of the right to sue for actual infringement of legitimate copyrights. Of course that sort of behavior leads to this sort of crap, which basically comes across as medium-sized Goliath stomping all over a little David, and that sort of thing must not be supported; you won't be reading any Bond reviews out of me any time soon

I will not be buying any either...

image from truth booth online

It just gets sillier...

I don't know if it's an attempt towards a PR cleanup (beacuse of the gazillions of you who read this blog and the deadly power that I wield..) but comments are coming in, first from a "NY Perfumista" which was deleted, not doubt because of
Gaia's latest post, then from Bond No. 9 themselves. Just in case they decide once more to delete the comment I will include it here:

"In response to standard actions regarding a Bond No. 9 trademark infringement, Ms. Zorn has personally waged war on us by Internet and by telephone.

For the information of those who support her based on these postings, etc., we thought it only fair to publish the following document. While waging said war, she sent this letter to the attorneys of Bond No. 9, declaring her “peaceful” resolution. She has, in essence, committed the very offense to which she claims (without merit) Bond No. 9 has affronted her.

Bond No. 9 is a small, entrepreneurial company run by one woman who spends a lot of time and money protecting it—her life’s work—and the scope of this company includes her trademarks. As a small business owner, and given the significant portion of her budget required to secure the names and phrases that are essential to the success of her business, she strongly defends them all.

The creative spirit of Bond No. 9 is copied every day by various companies, large and small, and we protect our rights in all cases. Laurice encourages everyone to be creative and to protect their ideas.

Two Springs ago she had the idea to launch a Peace fragrance at the United Nations and donate to UNICEF for that first year. Since 2007, the donations have been to Seeds of Peace (http://seedsofpeace.org), and Laurice continues to donate for Peace. The Scent of Peace is a top selling fragrance which allows us to donate a large amount of money to charity, and we're very pleased"

You can read my response in the comments section, but here's the gist: you have a right to sue, Ms Bond. In the judicial system in this country one can sue for anything. You can also get laughed out of court, as Fox had happen to them when they tried to quash Al Franken. Some actions make one look petty. This is one. Learn from it. Donating "a large amount of money to charity" doesn't make it any prettier, or any more acceptable. Sorry.



6 comments:

Bond No. 9 said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
tmp00 said...

Bond No 9 is a small company this is leaning on a much smaller one. As far I can see, the only way she has waged "war" on Bond No 9 is by blogging about her experience and publishing the actual letter received. If the letter was never sent, then there is something here for Bond No 9 to crow about. As for Bond's trademark, there is little to confuse "The Scent of Peace" with "Peace on Earth" except for that one word "peace", which apparently Bond No 9 feels it has trademarked until the end of time (one really should let the Peace Corps know) That begs the question, what other words do Bond No 9 feel are inviolate trademarks? Chinatown? New York? West? Nuits? Nouveau? C'mon.

The woman clearly states that she chose not to fight to save the hassle and expense of fighting Bond No 9, and I can believe that; since she isn't carried in Saks I'm sure that hear yearly grosses are a lot less than Bond No 9.

Oh, and to coach this bullying in the holier-than-thou mantle of charity is almost as pathetic as bothering to reply to a post in a personal blog that maybe two people in the world read....

Bond No. 9 said...

In response to standard actions regarding a Bond No. 9 trademark infringement, Ms. Zorn has personally waged war on us by Internet and by telephone.

For the information of those who support her based on these postings, etc., we thought it only fair to publish the following document. While waging said war, she sent this letter to the attorneys of Bond No. 9, declaring her “peaceful” resolution. She has, in essence, committed the very offense to which she claims (without merit) Bond No. 9 has affronted her.

Bond No. 9 is a small, entrepreneurial company run by one woman who spends a lot of time and money protecting it—her life’s work—and the scope of this company includes her trademarks. As a small business owner, and given the significant portion of her budget required to secure the names and phrases that are essential to the success of her business, she strongly defends them all.

The creative spirit of Bond No. 9 is copied every day by various companies, large and small, and we protect our rights in all cases. Laurice encourages everyone to be creative and to protect their ideas.

Two Springs ago she had the idea to launch a Peace fragrance at the United Nations and donate to UNICEF for that first year. Since 2007, the donations have been to Seeds of Peace (http://seedsofpeace.org), and Laurice continues to donate for Peace. The Scent of Peace is a top selling fragrance which allows us to donate a large amount of money to charity, and we're very pleased

tmp00 said...

Just in case anyones interested, here is the comment that was deleted:

" 2 comments:

NYC Perfumista said...

In response to standard actions regarding a Bond No. 9 trademark infringement, Ms. Zorn has personally waged war on us by Internet and by telephone.

For the information of those who support her based on these postings, etc., we thought it only fair to publish the following document. While waging said war, she sent this letter to the attorneys of Bond No. 9, declaring her “peaceful” resolution. She has, in essence, committed the very offense to which she claims (without merit) Bond No. 9 has affronted her.

Bond No. 9 is a small, entrepreneurial company run by one woman who spends a lot of time and money protecting it—her life’s work—and the scope of this company includes her trademarks. As a small business owner, and given the significant portion of her budget required to secure the names and phrases that are essential to the success of her business, she strongly defends them all.

The creative spirit of Bond No. 9 is copied every day by various companies, large and small, and we protect our rights in all cases. Laurice encourages everyone to be creative and to protect their ideas.

Two Springs ago she had the idea to launch a Peace fragrance at the United Nations and donate to UNICEF for that first year. Since 2007, the donations have been to Seeds of Peace (http://seedsofpeace.org), and Laurice continues to donate for Peace. The Scent of Peace is a top selling fragrance which allows us to donate a large amount of money to charity, and we're very pleased
"

Someone at Bond has a little too much time on their hands.

Pity, since there are a couple I do like. I just don't support this sort of foolishness.

chayaruchama said...

Beloved, I'm so glad you stand behind Liz.

I'm ordering her scent right now.
My whole family is mightily pissed off.

I must be horribly obtuse...
I didn't know that organic garlic farmer's wives from the Midwest
were so treacherous...

tmp00 said...

Oh those Midwesterners are just soooo evil.

It is really silly isn't it? I can understand (and support) the idea that your brand has to be protected bot really, why not sue Chrysler next ? They have the Pentastar logo, don't they? Hey, didn't they have a car named the "New Yorker"? Clearly infringement!!