ASPENX Beach Club is seen in an Oct. 26 social media post from Perfect Moment. (Instagram)
A high-end skiwear company out of London is countersuing the owner of the Aspen Snowmass resorts, which it accuses of trying to effectively trademark Aspen.
Their dispute dates back to December, when Perfect Moment was sued by Aspen Skiing Co. SkiCo accused the fashion firm of photographing models at its resorts and using the photos to sell apparel, in violation of SkiCo’s trademarks. In one example, Perfect Moment made and sold an outfit imprinted with a photo of the ASPENX Beach Club on Aspen Mountain.
“Perfect Moment continually and repeatedly associates itself with ASC Resorts…for the purpose of appropriating ASC’s world-class reputation and luxury lifestyle,” SkiCo alleged.
But in a countersuit filed March 8, Perfect Moment said there is nothing special about the amenities at Aspen Snowmass and therefore no trademarks to infringe upon.
“Plaintiff’s repeated assertions that ASPENX Beach Club is ‘iconic’ does not make it so,” it wrote. “In fact this new ‘beach’ concept was not known to PM and is not iconic.”
SkiCo is trying to trademark “an unprotectable, functional ski landscape” that “does not have acquired distinctiveness,” according to Perfect Moment. And some of that landscape isn’t even owned by SkiCo; it is U.S. Forest Service land, the fashion company notes.
Perfect Moment believes that SkiCo’s lawsuit should be thrown out because the resort company is effectively trying to trademark “the mountain, snow and landscape” of Aspen.
This photo, posted in November 2020, is one of several that Aspen Skiing Co. ordered Perfect Moment to remove from social media. (Instagram)
“Aspen Skiing Co. has alleged that Perfect Moment, by using the geographic location ‘Aspen, Colorado’ as a geotag in its social media postings and in other location identifiers, has infringed alleged trademark rights of Aspen Skiing Co.,” its countersuit alleges.
“PM is entitled to a declaratory judgment that uses of ‘Aspen’ to identify the geographic location ‘Aspen, Colorado,’ including as a geotag in its social media postings, are non-trademark fair uses and are not infringement of any rights,” the clothing company claims.
Perfect Moment also wants U.S. District Judge S. Kato Crews to rule that SkiCo can’t stop it from using photos of ski lifts, ASPENX and other resort features in its marketing.
Through its attorneys, SkiCo declined to comment on Perfect Moment’s countersuit. Those attorneys are Ian Saffer and Kate Bohmann with the national firm Quarles & Brady.
Perfect Moment’s attorney is Matt Ferguson with the Aspen firm Ferguson Schindler.
ASPENX Beach Club is seen in an Oct. 26 social media post from Perfect Moment. (Instagram)
A high-end skiwear company out of London is countersuing the owner of the Aspen Snowmass resorts, which it accuses of trying to effectively trademark Aspen.
Their dispute dates back to December, when Perfect Moment was sued by Aspen Skiing Co. SkiCo accused the fashion firm of photographing models at its resorts and using the photos to sell apparel, in violation of SkiCo’s trademarks. In one example, Perfect Moment made and sold an outfit imprinted with a photo of the ASPENX Beach Club on Aspen Mountain.
“Perfect Moment continually and repeatedly associates itself with ASC Resorts…for the purpose of appropriating ASC’s world-class reputation and luxury lifestyle,” SkiCo alleged.
But in a countersuit filed March 8, Perfect Moment said there is nothing special about the amenities at Aspen Snowmass and therefore no trademarks to infringe upon.
“Plaintiff’s repeated assertions that ASPENX Beach Club is ‘iconic’ does not make it so,” it wrote. “In fact this new ‘beach’ concept was not known to PM and is not iconic.”
SkiCo is trying to trademark “an unprotectable, functional ski landscape” that “does not have acquired distinctiveness,” according to Perfect Moment. And some of that landscape isn’t even owned by SkiCo; it is U.S. Forest Service land, the fashion company notes.
Perfect Moment believes that SkiCo’s lawsuit should be thrown out because the resort company is effectively trying to trademark “the mountain, snow and landscape” of Aspen.
This photo, posted in November 2020, is one of several that Aspen Skiing Co. ordered Perfect Moment to remove from social media. (Instagram)
“Aspen Skiing Co. has alleged that Perfect Moment, by using the geographic location ‘Aspen, Colorado’ as a geotag in its social media postings and in other location identifiers, has infringed alleged trademark rights of Aspen Skiing Co.,” its countersuit alleges.
“PM is entitled to a declaratory judgment that uses of ‘Aspen’ to identify the geographic location ‘Aspen, Colorado,’ including as a geotag in its social media postings, are non-trademark fair uses and are not infringement of any rights,” the clothing company claims.
Perfect Moment also wants U.S. District Judge S. Kato Crews to rule that SkiCo can’t stop it from using photos of ski lifts, ASPENX and other resort features in its marketing.
Through its attorneys, SkiCo declined to comment on Perfect Moment’s countersuit. Those attorneys are Ian Saffer and Kate Bohmann with the national firm Quarles & Brady.
Perfect Moment’s attorney is Matt Ferguson with the Aspen firm Ferguson Schindler.
