In the news: Last Wednesday a children’s book publisher has filed a trademark suit against DaimlerChrysler stating that the new ad campaign for Jeep Patriot “Choose Your Own Adventure” infringes on the trademark of a popular series of books.
It can be remembered that Jeep’s new ads use the tagline: “Choose Your Adventure” as a way to make customers to participate in the launching of the Jeep Patriot. The spokesman for Chrysler said that he was shocked that the suit was filed and that the parties are negotiating for a settlement.
Chooseco LLC, which have started r-issuing the R.A. Montgomery books filed the suit last Tuesday in US District Court in Burlington. Aside from DaimlerChrysler it also adds to the list of defendants the BBDO Detroit Inc., Organic Inc. and Marvel Entertainment Inc.
The books which have been interpreted in 35 languages have sold millions of copies starting from the day that it was published by Bantam Books. The target readers of the books are children ages 9 to 12 years old. These books have the same concept as that of Jeep’s “Choose Your Own Adventure” and that is allow readers to take part in the stories and allow to make their own choices that would affect the plot.
According to Chooseco, the Jeep’s ad campaign does not only sound like the book titles but are aimed at men aged 20 to 30s who have grown reading the same books. The interactive web site of Jeep with the movie “Jeep Patriot and the Way beyond Trail” was also claimed by the publisher to imitate the books’ themes. “What we feel is that Jeep is trying to piggyback on the really positive associations of adventure and opportunity and choice that the former fans — the original fan base — had associated with `Choose Your Own Adventure,'” said Shannon Gilligan, president of Waitsfield-based Chooseco. She also added “They’re trying to imbue the Jeep Patriot with that.”
As answer to the accusations of Chooseco, Jason Vines, a spokesman for Chrysler Group, maker of Jeep and its range of auto components and accessories such as Jeep headlight cover, said that, “Obviously, they’re looking for money. We’d offered to link our site, which gets nine katrillion times more traffic, to their site.”
The cease and desist request was served last March 16, the same time that the Chrysler Group offered the publisher to link to the web site of Jeep. Vines also added that Chrysler had expected to reach a settlement in the dispute Thursday but was surprised when the suit was filed.
Gilligan denies reports that there were negotiations between the parties. She stressed that it would be nearly impossible now to stop the ad campaign comprising of magazine ads, television commercials and other advertising venues. She said, “The ads are already in Rolling Stone and Newsweek. They’ve bought an abundance of media time in the NCAA finals. The cow’s out of the barn, as they say around here.”