It seems that a little over 24 hours since Cafe Roubaix posted the personal visit and apology from Mike Sinyard himself, a new company has come forward with a similar tale. Apparently, on December 4th, 2013, just a few days before Cafe Roubaix’s ordeal went public, Epix Gear received a cease and desist letter of their own with Specialized’ lawyers claiming the Epix logo is “nearly identical to Specialized’ well known Epic mark” and is likely to cause confusion between the brands. Epix gear, a maker of custom cycling and triathlon apparel, was requested to stop all use of the Epix logo and abandon their trademark applications and to comply by December 10th. The letter does include a possible provision for gradually phasing out the use of Epix in favor of another logo if the company complies with Specialized’ demands.
Specialized just posted a note from Mike Sinyard on their Facebook page, which included this bit about the Epix Letter:
I heard you and you can rest assured I took it to heart. I realize now that we went too far with this aggressive approach and as a result and in some cases we hurt the local bikes shops and small businesses we wanted to protect. As a result we’re going to take a much closer look at all pending and future intellectual property and trademark issues, making sure to only pursue those that present a clear and obvious danger. The letter on Epix Gear was issued before the Café Roubaix story broke and has since been pulled.
So it looks like Epix is in the clear.
