Bloomberg
A leather-bound knapsack used by the titular character in Lucasfilm Ltd.’s summer action flick “Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny” triggered a trademark lawsuit from an outdoor gear maker claiming its product was advertised in the film without permission.
The complaint filed by the Superior Tech LLC—which does business as Frost River—in San Francisco federal court alleged Lucasfilm engaged in a national marketing campaign with a competitor, C.C. Filson Co., featuring a bag that actually was Frost River’s popular “Geologist Pack.”
The scheme is an example of “reverse passing off,” where a competitor removes a product’s trademarks to pass it off as its own, the complaint alleged.
“Indeed, Lucasfilm and Filson were so brazen in their marketing and disregard for Frost River’s rights to its intellectual property, that they used clips of Indiana Jones wearing Frost River’s Geologist Pack on Filson’s own website,” the complaint said.
The fifth installment of the Indiana Jones franchise, starring Harrison Ford as the rugged, world-traveling archaeologist, was released late last month to disappointing box office numbers
Read more at https://news.bloomberglaw.com/tech-and-telecom-law/indiana-jones-5-sparks-trademark-suit-over-heros-backpack
