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Dates followed by a question mark (?) denote the earliest date
found in our research, or the closest educated guess to the date
of the event.
Further examples of the term "Stitch and Bitch" predating
Sew Fast Sew Easy's trademark can be found here.
This timeline is not yet complete.
Information we'd like:
- Complete list/number of knitting circles made to shut down/alter
their CafePress shops
- Complete list/number of knitting circles made to shut down/alter
their Yahoo! Groups
- Any documented correspondence between Sew Fast/Sew Easy and/or
their lawyers to knitting/crafting circles.
- Exact dates or date corrections
- Exact date SFSE put their "Stitch & Bitch TM"
Merchandise up for sale.
- Exact date(s) Stitch
'n Bitch : The Knitter's Handbook reached the NY Times
Bestsellers List.
- Any further corrections or additions that can be verified
as fact.
No
Idle Hands: The Social History of American Knitting by
Anne Macdonald is published by Ballantine Books. ISBN: 0345339061.
It includes the following passage:
In Akron, Ohio, twelve young women, who moved
in with parents or in-laws when husbands went overseas, gave
their elders a free night once a week (so to speak, since they
parked their children there!) to attend “Stitch
and Bitch Club” meetings. Loaded with sewing
and knitting, stuffed on supposedly “light refreshments”
provided by the evening’s hostess, voicing opinions on
everything from parenting to politics and exchanging news from
each war zone represented, they met until each member’s
husband returned home — all but one. The sensitivity of
the others to that member’s sorrow has bound them for
life, but none could face continuing the club after the war.
Acclaimed author Barbara Kingsolver's fictional novel, Animal
Dreams, is published. ISBN 0613032950. The HarperCollins
web site describes the book:
Cynical and self-absorbed, Codi Noline has been
drifting in an aimless relationship and through a series of
jobs when she packs up and returns home to the town of Grace,
Arizona to care for her physician father, who has Alzheimer's,
and to teach high school science. Emotionally distant from her
childhood and father, feeling herself to be an outsider and
a failure, Codi sees nothing but differences between herself
and her younger sister, Hallie, a political activist, and now,
a volunteer worker in Nicaragua. Through her involvements with
Loyd Peregrina (a handsome trainman of Pueblo, Navajo, and Apache
descent), the local matriarchs of the "Stitch and
Bitch Club," and her students, and through reading
Hallie's letters from Nicaragua, Codi gradually lets go of her
defensive isolation. Slowly, she recovers her connection to
a sense of self and a community that has always been there,
but she had forgotten. When her hometown is threatened with
environmental catastrophe, she finds herself, like Hallie, taking
responsibility for changing the world around her.
BUST
Magazine is first published.
The
Stitch and Bitch Cafe, a internet guestbook,
makes it first appearance on www.sewfastseweasy.com, the web site
for Sew Fast/Sew Easy, Inc., a New York sewing store. Link courtesy
of The Wayback
Machine. The very bottom of the guestbook reads at this time:
"TM Stitch and Bitch Cafe"
Sew Fast/Sew Easy, Inc., a New York sewing store, located at
147 West 57th Street New York, NY10019 files an application to
the United
States Patent and Trademark Office for the service mark "STITCH
& BITCH CAFE." In this application, they include
the following disclaimer: " NO CLAIM IS MADE TO THE EXCLUSIVE
RIGHT TO USE "CAFE" APART FROM THE MARK AS SHOWN."
The service marks goods and services are listed as follows:
IC 041. US 100 101 107. G & S: sewing instruction
and manuals distributed in connection therewith. FIRST USE:
19981101. FIRST USE IN COMMERCE: 19981101
IC 038. US 100 101 104. G & S: Providing
on-line chat rooms for the transmission of messages among computer
users concerning sewing via a global computer network. FIRST
USE: 19981101. FIRST USE IN COMMERCE: 19981101
Spring 2001 BUST Magazine's "A Bad Girl's Guide to Good
Housekeeping" - features Sew Fast/Sew Easy's pattern:
The Rx pouch. Debbie Stoller, author of Stitch
'n Bitch : The Knitter's Handbook is the editor
of BUST Magazine.
A web site to list a national network of knitters, www.stitchnbitch.org,
opens.
The application for the service mark "STITCH
& BITCH CAFE" to Sew Fast/Sew Easy, Inc is listed
as "Published for Opposition."
This is listed as the registration date for the service mark
"STITCH
& BITCH CAFE" to Sew Fast/Sew Easy, Inc. The serial
no. for SFSE's "Stitch and Bitch Cafe" trademark is
76026522.
The registration no. is 2596818.
Now calling itself The
Stitch 'n Bitch Cafe, a Sew Fast/Sew Easy,
Inc's internet guestbook undergoes an update and makeover. Link
courtesy of The
Wayback Machine.
Stitch
'n Bitch : The Knitter's Handbook by Debbie Stoller is
published by the Workman Publishing Company. ISBN: 0761132589.
It goes on to be listed on the New York Times Bestseller list.
Deborah Stoller files four trademark applications for "Stitch
'N Bitch" (Serial Nos. 78417593, 78417589, 78417582, and
78417575) with the USPTO.
The applications are for, respectively, the following classes
of goods and services.
IC 041. US 100 101 107. G & S: Entertainment
services, namely a television show in the field of knitting
IC 026. US 037 039 040 042 050. G & S: Knitting
kits comprising knitting needles, yarns, threads, knitting patterns
and instructions; knitting kits comprising knitting needles,
yarns, threads, knitting patterns and instructions and knitting
bags sold as a unit; knitting kits comprising knitting needles,
yarns, threads, knitting patterns and instructions and knitting
needle cases sold as a unit
IC 018. US 001 002 003 022 041. G & S: Bags
and cases for knitting materials and supplies
IC 016. US 002 005 022 023 029 037 038 050.
G & S: Series of books in the field of knitting
Stitch
'n Bitch Nation by Debbie Stoller is published by the
Workman Publishing Company. ISBN: 0761135901. It goes on to be
listed on the New York Times Bestseller list.
Brenda Janish, member of the previously titled "Stitch 'n
Bitch Chicago" and webmaster of www.stitchnbitch.org
receives the following letter from
CafePress.com, a free online merchandise site:
Dear Ms. Janish,
Thank you for using CafePress.com!
In accordance with our Intellectual Property
Rights Policy, Gregory Garvin, Marketing Manager for Sew Fast/Sew
Easy, Inc. and Stitch and Bitch Cafe, provided us with a notice
stating that your use of the StitchnBitch infringes upon their
intellectual property rights (copyright/trademark). As you know
CafePress.com is not in a position to evaluate the merits of
an infringement claim made against you by a third party. In
order to best protect ourselves from risk, we must take all
allegations of infringement seriously and take action in removing
the content from our site.
Penalties for copyright infringement can potentially
reach $150,000 per work infringed and penalties for trademark
counterfeiting can potentially reach $1,000,000 per trademark
for each type of goods sold. An intellectual property rights
owner may also have the right to recover the attorneys’
fees that they incur in bringing an action against a person
that infringes upon their intellectual property rights. Accordingly,
we have set the content that is alleged to infringe the rights
of the third party to “pending status” which disables
said content from being displayed in your shop or purchased
by the public. You may review the content set to pending status
by logging into your CafePress.com account and clicking on the
“Media Basket” link. The content set to pending
status will be highlighted red.
If you believe that you hold the rights to the
content alleged to infringe the rights of the third party, we
encourage you to contact the alleged rights holder directly
for a resolution to this matter. Below please find the contact
information for the party alleging infringement.
Sew Fast/Sew Easy, Inc.
237 West 35th Street, Suite 603
New York, NY 10001
(T) 212-268-4321 (F) 212-268-4329
www.sewfastseweasy.com
. For additional information and FAQ’s on Intellectual
Property, please visit our Intellectual Property (Copyright/Trademark)
Guidelines
(this includes information on the Right of Publicity), Intellectual
Property (Music & Electronic Media) Guidelines and Intellectual
Property (Publishing) Guidelines .
We apologize for any inconvenience that our actions
may cause you. Please let us know if we can be of further assistance.
Sincerely,
Lindsay Estes
Content Usage Associate
Ms. Janish contacted the parties mentioned in the notice and
was told to contact Sew Fast/Sew Easy Inc's legal department.
She chose not to do so until seeking legal advice of her own.
She removed the images that included "Stitch 'n Bitch"
from the Chicago
CafePress shop.
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SFSE files a trademark application for "Stitch
and Bitch" (Serial No. 78641350) for the following classes
of goods and services:
IC 026. US 037 039 040 042
050. G & S: Knitting and sewing supplies namely: Knitting
kits, sewing kits, knitting needles, sewing needles, seam rippers,
tracing wheels, measuring tapes, rulers, scissors, magnetic
seam guides, mugs, knitting instructions, sewing instructions,
patterns, fabric, pre-cut material, thread, buttons, webbing,
pin cushions, thimbles, marking pencils, hangers and pins. FIRST
USE: 19981101. FIRST USE IN COMMERCE: 19981101
IC 016. US 002 005 022 023 029 037
038 050. G & S: Printed materials, namely patterns for sewing,
knitting, and crochet, greeting cards and printed instructional
books and manuals on sewing knitting, DIY, and crochet. FIRST
USE: 19981101. FIRST USE IN COMMERCE: 19981101
Rebecca Veverka, member of the previously titled "Stitch
'n Bitch Cleveland" received the same letter from CafePress,
but with some noted differences in the contact information.
Dear Shopkeeper,
Thank you for using CafePress.com!
In accordance with our Intellectual Property
Rights Policy, Georges Nahitchevansky representing Sew Fast/Sew
Easy, Inc. owners of the Stitch & Bitch Cafe mark, provided
us with a notice stating that your use of Stitch & Bitch
in your products, product name/descriptions, or store name/descriptions
infringes upon their intellectual property rights (copyright/trademark).
As you know CafePress.com is not in a position
to evaluate the merits of an infringement claim made against
you by a third party. In order to best protect ourselves from
risk, we must take all allegations of infringement seriously
and take action in removing the content from our site.
Penalties for copyright infringement can potentially
reach $150,000 per work infringed and penalties for trademark
counterfeiting can potentially reach $1,000,000 per trademark
for each type of goods sold. An intellectual property rights
owner may also have the right to recover the attorneys’
fees that they incur in bringing an action against a person
that infringes upon their intellectual property rights.
Accordingly, we have set the content that is
alleged to infringe the rights of the third party to “pending
status” which disables said content from being displayed
in your shop or purchased by the public. You may review the
content set to pending status by logging into your CafePress.com
account and clicking on the “Media Basket” link.
The content set to pending status will be highlighted red.
If you believe that you hold the rights to the
content alleged to infringe the rights of the third party, we
encourage you to contact the alleged rights holder directly
for a resolution to this matter. Below please find the contact
information for the party alleging infringement.
Georges Nahitchevansky
Fross Zelnick Lehrman & Zissu, P.C.
866 United Nations Plaza
At First Avenue & 48th Street
New York, NY 10017
Tel: 212-813-5900
Fax: 212-813-5901
For additional information and FAQ’s on
Intellectual Property, please visit our Intellectual Property
(Copyright/Trademark) Guidelines (this includes information
on the Right of Publicity), Intellectual Property (Music &
Electronic Media) Guidelines and Intellectual Property (Publishing)
Guidelines.
We apologize for any inconvenience that our actions
may cause you. Please let us know if we can be of further assistance.
Sincerely,
Ryan Ellison
Content Usage Associate
The images in question were removed from the Cleveland
CafePress shop.
Final refusals are written for all four of Deborah Stoller's
trademark applications.
Debbie Stoller files a Petition to Cancel SFSE's trademark. The
PDF can be read in it's entirety here.
Sew Fast/Sew Easy Inc's Stitch & Bitch Cafe, previously a
guestbook, undergoes a change to become an online
forum. It includes the following information under Recent
Change to Stitch & Bitch Cafe:
Stitch & Bitch started before 1997 when students
of Sew Fast Sew Easy, Inc. gathered together for Friday Evenings
of sewing, knitting and crochet fun. It was an idea of Elissa
Meyrich the creative director of Sew Fast Sew Easy, Inc. In
1998, it became the Stitch & Bitch Café forum and
linked to the web site Sew Fast Sew Easy, Inc.
Stitch & Bitch Café is a brand name
under Sew Fast Sew Easy, Inc and has been trademarked since
2001. No other usage of Stitch & Bitch ever occurred before
the first Friday evening gatherings at Sew Fast Sew Easy in
it's first location 147 West 57th Street and Stitch and Bitch
Café was one of the first online forums of its kind.
We at Sew Fast Sew Easy decided it was time to convert our original
trademarked online board into a forum. We also continue to hold
our Stitch & Bitch nights at our current address 237 West
35th Street . Those nights are announced to our students and
customers.
Notice and Trial Dates sent to SFSE
SFSE Lawyers answer the petition
to cancel. Another PDF.
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The knitting circle previously known as Stitch 'n Bitch Cleveland
receives the following email, and other knitting chapters nationwide
using Yahoo! Groups receive a similar letter.
Sew Fast/Sew Easy Inc. has notified Yahoo! Inc.
("Yahoo!") that service and/or trademark(s) proprietary
to Sew Fast/Sew Easy Inc. were used in connection with the Yahoo!R
Group stitchnbitch_clevel and. Sew Fast/Sew Easy Inc. has further
notified Yahoo! that the stitchnbitch_clevel and group is not
authorized to use the mark(s) in question at:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/stitchnbitch_cleveland
Yahoo! respects the rights of both its users
and the owners and rights holders of intellectual property.
Accordingly, Yahoo! intends to expeditiously remove or disable
access to the mark(s) in question. PLEASE BE ADVISED THAT UNLESS
THE MARK(S) IN QUESTION ARE REMOVED FROM THE GROUP AND GROUP
URL, OR ACCESS TO THE MARK(S) IN THE GROUP AND GROUP URL ARE
DISABLED, WITHIN FORTY-EIGHT (48) HOURS, YAHOO! INTENDS TO DISABLE
ACCESS TO YOUR GROUP.
In order to change your Yahoo! Group URL, please follow the
instructions below
1. In the control panel on the left side, click
on the Management link.
2. Under the Group Settings, click the Description
& Appearance link.
3. Under the Web Address heading, click edit
to update the Web Address
4. Click the Save Changes button when you are
done.
Through your participation in Yahoo!R Groups you agree to abide
by the Yahoo! Terms of Service, as well as any additional Terms
of Service applicable to you. The current Yahoo! Terms of Service
may be reviewed at: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms. Pursuant
to Section 6 of the Terms of Service, Member Conduct, the use
of Yahoo!R services to "upload, post, email, transmit or
otherwise make available any Content that infringes any patent,
trademark, trade secret, copyright or other proprietary rights
("Rights") of any party" is prohibited.
As you know, Yahoo! may terminate any and/or
all services and accounts without notice. This notice is provided
to you as a courtesy. Without waiving or limiting any rights
or remedies Yahoo! has or may have, as the listed owner of the
stitchnbitch_clevel and group you are hereby advised that our
receipt of another notification of infringement alleging the
> infringement of another party's intellectual property in
connection with the stitchnbitch_clevel and group may result
in not only the suspension of the stitchnbitch_clevel and group,
but the termination of all of your Yahoo! services as well as
the deactivation of your Yahoo! ID.
If you believe that the stitchnbitch_clevel
and group was designated by Sew Fast/Sew Easy Inc. by mistake
or misidentification, or if you believe that the group has not
infringed upon Sew Fast/Sew Easy Inc's service or trademark
rights, you may contact Sew Fast/Sew Easy Inc. directly at:\
Address: Sew Fast/Sew Easy, Inc
237 West 35th Street, Suite 603
New York, NY 10001
Phone: (212) 268-4321
Fax: (212) 268-4329
We wish to thank you in advance for your anticipated
cooperation.
Regards,
Copyright Agent, Yahoo! Inc.
copyright@yahoo-inc.com
****************************
c/o Yahoo! Inc.
701 First Ave.
Sunnyvale, CA 94089
Most of these knitting chapters do in fact change the words "Stitch
'n Bitch" in their Yahoo!Groups accounts.
Deborah Stoller releases the following statement soon after.
Dear Stitchers 'n Bitchers:
It has come to my attention that the moderators
of a number of Stitch 'n Bitch groups who host their mailing
lists using Yahoo Groups' free mailing list services have received
notices from Yahoo advising them that they must delete the wording
STITCH N BITCH from their Yahoo!Group URL and any references
to STITCH N BITCH in the GROUP itself. This notice is a result
of a objection filed by Sew Fast Sew Easy Inc., a New York company,
who is claiming rights to this wording.
A number of you have been emailing me asking
what to do. I have spoken about this matter with my attorneys.
First of all, please realize that you are not being asked in
this notice to change the name of your actual knitting group,
just the group designation you use on the Yahoo group and Yahoo
URL, if you want to keep using their free email services. Unfortunately,
there is no immediate recourse with Yahoo other than to make
the change at this time. They require this as soon as anybody
makes any kind of claim--they do not evaluate the merits of
the claim. This being the case, one idea is to simply change
any references to STITCH n BITCH in your Yahoo Group name to
some alternative such as SNB (i.e, StitchnBitch-NYC would become
SNB-NYC. Easier to type, too!) Your group moderator can easily
make this change via the Yahoogroups control panel.
I know how much we value these lists as a way
to communicate with our groups, and I think we should all try
to avoid the possible loss of our group lists if Yahoo proceeds
with a shut down. Also, I'd like you to remind you that the
group moderator can export the members list at any time (just
go to "members" then "export"), and save
it somewhere special.
Finally, if you decide to change your Yahoo Groups
name or move your list, please be sure to have some one from
your group let Brenda know so she can change it on www.stitchnbitch.org.
Thanks!
Debbie Stoller
SFSE Webmaster Greg Garvin opens 222 topics on the Stitch
& Bitch Cafe Forum listing 221
cities nationwide, asking each city, "Anyone interested
in getting together to sew, knit or crochet?"
The forum is flooded with negative replies from members of those
knitting groups forced to change their names.Some of the posts
directing readers to the web sites listing these local knitting
chapters are either deleted or edited so that these links return
to the Stitch & Bitch Cafe Forum when clicked.
All postings pertaining to the topic, both civil and uncivil,
are eventually deleted.
A request for an extension of time was filed
on consent in the SFSE cancellation proceedings, pending settlement
discussions.
Sew Fast/Sew Easy Inc. releases the following statement
on the trademark debate. Part of the text reads:
It is sad that some have been badly misled by
"A MISS STOLE-IT." This is a person who borrowed a
phrase that is trademarked and did not bother to investigate
it. She lied in her book when she said she was the "founder
of the first Stitch 'N Bitch knitting group in New York City,"
and encouraged groups of women around the country to illegally
use a trademarked term. Put yourself in our shoes.
The letter is signed Gregory Garvin, Marketing manager. As this
does not fulfil the terms of our boycott requesting an apology
and the free use of the generic term "Stitch & Bitch,"
the boycott continues.
The statement is removed from Sew Fast/Sew Easy's site temporarily,
only to return with several spelling errors corrected.
The statement is removed entirely from Sew Fast/Sew Easy's site.
A new topic
is posted on their online forum. It reads:
SewFastSewEasy Inc. reserves the right to remove
any slanderous and nasty comments to this forum that have nothing
to do with the categories posted.
There is no place on this forum for this type
of negative slander.
You may use this forum to direct users to information
only pertaining to the subject matter of the forum categories.
No deliberate direction to advertising of any
Stitch and Bitch books will be allowed. There is much to be
found on knitting in many other books published
Warning: any person continuing to do this will
be reported to their Internet service provider and local authorities.
The following is a screen capture of YahooGroups.com
on this date. It includes the link "Stitch & Bitch"
directing users to knitting related groups.
Another email is sent by Yahoo! to several groups
using the site for their crafting groups. These sites had received
a previous letter and had already changed their names from Stitch
'n Bitch to SnB or something else entirely.
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The plaintiff in the pending cancellation of the
Stitch & Bitch Cafe service mark, Deborah Stoller, files a
Motion
to Amend. The motion states that:
Petitioner believes that Respondant's
Mark was not used for services identified in the registration
at the time the application was filed, and that the dates alleged
were not accurate. Petitioner therefore seeks to add claims
based on this newly discovered information.
SF/SE replies
to Stoller's motion.
Petitioner's motion for leave to
amend is nothing more than the latest in a string of continued
efforts by Petitioner to Harass Respondant. The proposed amended
notice of opposition raised alledgedly new grounds to cancel
Respondant's registration on what can only be termed "flimsy"
facts and in order to increase the burden on Respondant to protect
its rights.
"Petitioner's
Reply to Respondant's Opposition to Petitioner's Motion for Leave
to Amend the Petition to Cancel." Yow. Again from Stoller's
side. It reads in part:
Petitioner requests that the Board
concider this reply to the Respondant's Opposition to Petitioner's
Motion for Leave to Amend the Petition to Cancel. Petitioner
believes that this reply is neccessary to address misrepresentations
made by the Respondant and to clarify how the discovery responses
submitted by Respondant have provided additional grounds for
the relief requested by Petioner.
The FTSFTB Boycott is featured in a
Knit.1 article by Cheryl Krementz. You can read the article
here.
A "STIPULATION FOR AN EXTENSION OF TIME"
is requested
in the pending cancellation of the Stich & Bitch Cafe service
mark, and is also granted.
Part of the request reads:
Parties are engaged in settlement
discussions.
The FTSFTB Boycott is featured in a
Vogue Knitting article by Leslie Petrovski. You can read the
article here.
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