But the fashion conglomerate Inditex felt the store’s brand was too close to its popular Zara brand, and two years ago filed a notice opposing Kotrri’s attempt to trademark her business name. The notice was followed by a lawyer’s letter suggesting her store’s name was too similar to Zara, and people could be confused.
Kotrri was given three months to comply, and told the British newspaper The Guardian that her first thought was to comply. “I mean, how do you fight something like that?” she said.
But Kotrri did take on the challenge, explaining she got angry while contemplating removing every label from the garments in her inventory.
“I just couldn’t imagine signing that letter,” she said. “I didn’t see any similarity and no customer has ever seen a similarity so I decided I was going to fight it. I thought, I can easily give evidence on this because I believe so strongly in my brand.”
Ironically, the name Zana in Albanian folklore refers to a protective fairy, but it also translates to the concept of giving people a voice.
That’s exactly what Kotrri gained, and when the case went to an intellectual property tribunal, the judge ruled in her favor. Judge Matthew Williams ruled that the full name of Kotrri’s business—House of Zana—has 11 letters, making it clearly different in the eyes of consumers than the one-word trademark Zara. Williams also noted even the name ‘Zana’ is different from Zara, both in appearance and sound.
The apparel giant appeared to take the loss with good grace, saying only, “While we do not wish to comment on the judgment itself. We continue to wish Ms. Kotrri and her business success in the future.”
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