AUSTIN, Texas -- The Lance Armstrong Foundation has sued a man, alleging his animal charity's pet collars infringe on the
foundation's trademark yellow LiveStrong wristbands.
The lawsuit seeks to stop Animal Charity Collar Group Inc. from using the phrases Barkstrong and Purrstrong, the yellow bands and
the Web site barkstrong.net. It also seeks unspecified monetary
damages and the cancellation of the company's Purrstrong trademark
and its pending application for the Barkstrong trademark.
Animal Charity Collar Group, a for-profit company based in
Tulsa, Okla., makes the collars for animal rescue groups to sell.
It also sells them on its Web site for $4.99.
The pet collars "are confusingly similar to, and are likely to
cause confusion, mistake or deception" about their origin or
affiliation with the Lance Armstrong Foundation, according to the
lawsuit filed Tuesday in U.S. District Court.
Armstrong, a seven-time winner of the Tour de France, started the foundation bearing his name in 1997 after recovering from
advanced testicular cancer that had spread to his abdomen, lungs
and brain.
Since 2004, the Austin-based foundation has sold more than 70 million LiveStrong wristbands for $1 each to raise money for cancer
research and programs for survivors. The wristbands are a symbol of
the foundation's goodwill, the lawsuit says.
Chris Ohman, CEO of Animal Charity Collar Group, said the
glow-in-the-dark pet collars were his company's idea. They come in
white, yellow-green, pink and orange and have paw prints embedded
on either side of the phrase.
"It is not something that could be confused with a bracelet or
any other product they have," Ohman said.
He said he approached the Lance Armstrong Foundation when he started the collar project in 2006, but the foundation declined to
participate because it was not related to cancer research.