Topic: Bear loves the name (Read 11330 times)

Rich.H · « **on:** August 08, 2014 »

Seems like either the bear bloke has gone totally overboard on his usual quick cash ethics or has just not bothered to stay in touch with his own brand. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-dorset-28713420

I have generally held Bear in minor disdain for the total lack of any realistic or halfway sensible at the expense of showmanship and money. But this takes it too far and puts him right up there with politicians, granted he did tweet some rubbish about how he was going to look into it. But surely the BG franchise is not some galaxy wide corporation that is impossible to monitor from a single standpoint? I'm having a tough time believing Bear knew nothing about this fiasco and is trying to do some damage control now it has come to light.

I had to chuckle when a quote from the lawyers said the logo was "very similar’ to their client’s ‘Bear’ mark and covers ‘identical and similar goods, namely knives and sheaths for knives"
Just for reference here is an example of the apparently offending product.

Here is what Bears lawyers deem to be an identical and similar good.

It is a little tragic as it seems as though the guy running Bear Blades has little clue about the legal system and is acting out of fear more than logic as he is just rolling over for them rather than fighting for his own rights. If you ever needed another reason (other than overpriced, poorly made, badly designed) to not buy anything with the BG mark then here you have it.

specimanYak · « **Reply #1 on:** August 09, 2014 »

This is ridiculous, i really can't see how Bear Grylls is at any fault here, regardless what people think of the man or his products. The company 'Bear Blades UK' only started in 2012, years after Bear Grylls became a noted individual in the outdoors scene and has his own company 'bearing' his name. It's not like they've been around for years and have a proven legacy (i've no idea about the quality of their knives) and why would they call themselves that name if it wasn't a poor attempt to associate them-selves with one of the most well known outdoors people in the UK. When i hear Bear Blades, i instantly think of Bear Grylls and i'm sure i'm not the only one who would assume this, and this company must of been aware of this. To try and call the man out for protecting his own business legacy is absurd and genuinely shows a lack of integrity and inclination on the part of Bear Blades. They could of called them-selves 'Bare Blades' and sold the sheaths separately. Instead, i'd imagine once this company garners 'out-rage' from the internet hive mind and gets a degree of publicity, they'll change their name to 'Greber Blades' or 'Gray Mears Blades' and then start the process again.

Rich.H · « **Reply #2 on:** August 10, 2014 »

If you take a look at their products you can see a line of thinking with the choice of name for Bear Blades, along with their slogan it fits well to make a nice product image. When you consider the type of products that they offer it seems too strange to suggest they chose the name to deliberately use Bear Grylls as a free advertising. Bear Grylls is a man who polarizes the general outdoor/bushcraft/survival community, few folks sit close to the fence and instead either love or hate him. The product style that Bear Blades sells tends to fit towards the folks that are on the hate side of things with BG, where as the BG company sells more tactical style products.

I will concede that at first when I see or say "Bear Blades" that I also jump straight to Bear Grylls, but that is not because the company has wrongfully used his name, it is just a simple fact of pop culture and media. The name Bear Grylls has become huge and unless you live in a hole somewhere it is hard to not have heard of him, with such an unusual name it tends to stick. So when another person or company happens to have the same name it is only natural to associate the two.

To suggest that this company will simply try another tactic for advertising is either misguided or ignorant of one large fact, the owner of Bear Blades first came out saying they were backing down without a fight and at no point even suggested any form of forthcoming legal conflict. So I'm not sure where the idea of this being a marketing stunt can come from?

As far as I can see there are only two logical possible reasons for this situation. Either BG knew about this situation and fully endorsed it showing a new level of asshattery. Or he knew nothing about it and it was just some part of the BG company going ahead taking this action, this is almost as bad as it shows him as some aloof person totally disjointed from the company he promotes.

specimanYak · « **Reply #3 on:** August 10, 2014 »

It's hardly ignorant to point out that they've already received advertising, before this i doubt few people had heard of 'Bear Blades', now a few more people do because of their bleetings about it. I'm fully aware they decided to back down on the matter, i did read the same article. The point is they were fully aware before they moved into the same general product area as Bear Grylls and hock knives that their name alone could be misconstrued as being associated with Bear Grylls products. Whether is was intentional or not, it shows naivety or stupidity at best and complete lies at worst.

Quote from: Rich.H on August 10, 2014

To suggest that this company will simply try another tactic for advertising is either misguided or ignorant of one large fact, the owner of Bear Blades first came out saying they were backing down without a fight and at no point even suggested any form of forthcoming legal conflict. So I'm not sure where the idea of this being a marketing stunt can come from?

Rich.H · « **Reply #4 on:** August 10, 2014 »

I think it is a little extreme to suggest this company should not of chosen their name (due to which ever reason) just because it happens to have one word the same as the BG brand. Considering this firm has taken the word as per the large ursine creature and used many of the attributes of that animal as part of their product ethos. Where as BG just happens to be using an old nickname from his childhood.

If Bear Blades were trying to sell products that were very similar rather than ones which just happen to be of the same type (a knife is a knife), then sure it would look odd. However there are many cases of firms who happen to be in similar markets with names that may use a word equally. This is not a matter of a firm plagiarising someones brand, but a case of two firms who have chosen (for each their own reasons) a word from the dictionary, it is no different than the makers of the Candy Crush game who tried to prevent anyone else from using the word candy in their own products. A judge quickly prescribed a dose of common sense on that one.

One final point, considering that the majority of media popularity for BG has been in the US and that most of his shows are also US based. Why is it that it was a tiny firm in Dorset who were targeted and not http://www.bearandsoncutlery.com/. Almost identical products and yet one has sales that probably number in the hundreds at best the other in the thousands at least.

specimanYak · « **Reply #5 on:** August 10, 2014 »

Looks like its been sorted out:

http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/bear-grylls-lifts-legal-action-4033104

polroger · « **Reply #6 on:** August 11, 2014 »

Quote from: specimanYak on August 10, 2014

Looks like its been sorted out:

http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/bear-grylls-lifts-legal-action-4033104

thank god fur that................ had me up all night worrying

Northern Ireland Outdoors Forum - Hiking, camping and more

Useful Links

Follow NI-Wild

Author Topic: Bear loves the name (Read 11330 times)

Rich.H

Bear loves the name

specimanYak

Re: Bear loves the name

Rich.H

Re: Bear loves the name

specimanYak

Re: Bear loves the name

Rich.H

Re: Bear loves the name

specimanYak

Re: Bear loves the name

polroger

Re: Bear loves the name

Bottom Sponsor

Recent Topics