Businesses racing to cash in on Wemby’s name seek trademarks for apparel, luggage — even a cocktail

They’ve come from companies in China and Germany, a restaurant company in San Antonio, a business in Spicewood and another in Tennessee.

Last week, San Antonio’s Palomar Restaurants Investments Inc. filed an application to register the trademark “The Wemby” for use as a cocktail. Nick Guinn, a San Antonio intellectual property lawyer for the company, did not respond to a request for comment Wednesday afternoon.

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It was far from the first. In January, a Spicewood company and its principal filed multiple trademark applications for “Wemby.” 

Vivico LLC said “Wemby” is the brand name of various sports drinks and soft drinks as well as the name of the “brand name of Sporting goods such as Basketballs, Footballs, Soccer Balls, Golf Balls and so on.”

Vivico principal Michael Ward also has submitted multiple applications to trademark “Wemby” for other uses including athletic apparel. An amended application he filed in March includes a photo of a pair of athletic shoes displaying “Wemby” in bold black letters along the side.

Ward last month abandoned two applications to trademark the name for use with NFTs, cryptocurrency, trading cards and internet games. A phone number for Ward that was listed in the applications was not in service.

In early May, a Tennessee man filed an application to trademark “Wemby” in conjunction with trading cards.

And a German company, in a June 22 application, said it wants to use the Wemby name for everything from sporting goods and shoes to luggage and umbrellas.

Bruce Patterson, a Houston intellectual property lawyer, said that even though Victor Wembanyama hasn’t sold apparel or other merchandise bearing his name, he could oppose such trademark applications because people will incorrectly associate the goods with him.

“They will be trading on his goodwill,” said Patterson, who is not involved with any of the applications. 

But it would a “little harder” for Wembanyama to prevent any use of his nickname, Patterson said. He would have to show the moniker “makes the same commercial impression” as his surname. 

Athletic shorts

The Chinese company filed to trademark “Wembanyama” on May 30, about three weeks before the draft.

However, Michael Chen, a California intellectual property lawyer representing the applicant Putian City Luqiao Electronic Commerce Co. Ltd., said the company would not go forward with the application.

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“We will explain this issue to our client and withdraw this trademark application,” Chen said in an email after being informed by the San Antonio Express-News of the significance of the name.

The application had not been withdrawn as of 3:30 p.m. Wednesday.

Putian City is seeking to have the trademark “Wembanyama” applied “on merchandise, namely athletic shorts, for commercial use.”

Photos of a pair of women’s burnt-orange-colored athletic shorts are included as part the application. They are listed for sale for $19.87 on the website Esbeeli.com, the application shows.

Putian City takes part of its name from its home in Putian, in the central part of China’s Fujian province. The city of Putian is the center of the country’s sneaker manufacturing base, according to TravelGuideChina.com.

Wembanyama is at least the 16th trademark application filed by the company since last year. It’s not always been successful in securing its targets.

The company wanted to trademark “The Warriors” but abandoned the application May 5 after the Patent and Trademark Office told it that it was “confusingly similar” to trademark registrations already held by the Golden State Warriors basketball team.

That application included a screenshot of the Esbeeli website marketing a white baseball cap with “The Warriors” in black lettering for $17.55.

Disney fight

The company also tried to trademark “Duffy and Friends” but got a fight from Disney Enterprises Inc.

Disney, in a December filing with the Patent and Trademark Office, said its “DUFFY Character first appeared at Walt Disney World in 2002 as a character in the theme park and in connection with a line of plush teddy bears.”

Disney has been selling merchandise under the Duffy mark since at least 2010, it added.

In its application to trademark Duffy and Friends, Putian City included a photograph of a black lace belt selling for $9.99 with a tag that said “duffy and friends.”

Disney said the belt “is identical to a belt offered for sale on the website Shein (us.shein.com), a popular third-party online retailer.”

Esbeeli’s website’s “About Us” page is “nearly a verbatim copy of New York & Company’s (a popular fashion brand) ‘About Us’ page,” Disney said.

It added, “Upon information and belief, the Esbeeli Website is used by foreign applicants solely for the purpose of creating fake specimens to submit to the USPTO (Patent and Trademark Office) in connection with the trademark applications.”

Disney also said the Esbeeli website also does not actually allow consumers to purchase products. A lawyer for Disney did not respond to an email seeking comment.

Putian City never filed a response to Disney’s opposition. The Trademark Trial and Appeal Board issued a notice of default in February and upheld the opposition in March. A similar outcome occurred for the application to trademark “Linabell A Friend of Duffy.”

It hasn’t all been bad news for Putian City with the Patent and Trademark Office.

In February, it successfully registered the trademark “Ruerto Rico Clemente” for use in the sale of athletic shorts.