Uber試圖阻止佛羅里達沙龍APP的商標

Uber試圖阻止佛羅里達沙龍APP的商標

A single mother from Florida is gearing up for battle with ride-hailing behemoth Uber over an app she is building.

一位來自佛羅里達州的單身母親正準備與叫車巨頭優(yōu)步(Uber)就她正在開發(fā)的一款應用展開競爭。

Carolina Vengoechea, 45, tells The Post that Uber has demanded she give up the name of her beauty salon app, called “BeauBer.” But she has refused, arguing that the name is the combination of her two job titles, beautician and barber — and has nothing to do with the San Francisco-based company.

45歲的卡羅萊娜·文戈切亞(Carolina Vengoechea)告訴《華盛頓郵報》，優(yōu)步要求她放棄自己的美容院應用程序“BeauBer”的名字。但她拒絕了，稱這個名字是她的兩個工作頭銜——美容師和理發(fā)師——的組合，與這家總部位于舊金山的公司無關。

Vengoechea says she has already turned down multiple settlement offers from the $60 billion Uber, which is hell-bent on destroying trademarks that include its name. Unless the company backs down, she said, she will be forced to face them in court next year.

Vengoechea說，她已經拒絕了多次Uber600億美元的和解要約，Uber決心摧毀包括其名稱在內的商標。她說，除非公司讓步，否則明年她將被迫面對他們。

Larry Marano

“I’ve already spent money on BeauBer,” Vengoechea said of her app. “I feel like settling is just giving up. I know I’m not doing anything wrong. Why do I have to settle just because they have more money than me?”

“我已經把錢花在了博伯身上，”Vengoechea在談到她的應用程序時說。“我覺得安定就是放棄。我知道我沒有做錯什么。為什么他們比我有更多的錢，我就得將就?“

Vengoechea says she started building the BeauBer app in 2018 to help patrons of her small beauty salon book appointments. But when she hired a lawyer to have the name trademarked, she found herself in the crosshairs of Uber’s high-powered legal team, which filed a notice of opposition with the US Patent and Trademark Office accusing her of attempting to capitalize on the Uber brand.

Vengoechea說，她在2018年開始構建Beauber應用程序，以幫助她的小美容院的顧客預約。但當她聘請一名律師為這個名字注冊商標時，她發(fā)現(xiàn)自己成了優(yōu)步強大法律團隊的目標。該團隊向美國專利商標局(US Patent and Trademark Office)提交了一份反對通知，指控她試圖利用優(yōu)步這個品牌。

Vengoechea has designed the BeauBer logo with a colorful 1970s disco look — nothing like Uber’s sleek black and white logo. And she is quick to point out that the “u” in the name comes from “beauty,” not “uber.” So it is silent and therefore doesn’t sound like Uber.

Vengoechea設計了BeauBer的標志，帶有20世紀70年代迪斯科的色彩，完全不像Uber的黑白標志。她很快指出，這個名字中的“u”來自“beauty”，而不是“uber”。所以它是無聲的，所以聽起來不像優(yōu)步。

Uber is no stranger to attacking trademarks that include its name. It has also gone after individuals who have attempted to trademark names like “Uber Trash,” “UberAire,” “Uber Cuts” and “Uber Health,” filing more than a dozen trademark oppositions since it went after Vengoechea last October.

Uber對攻擊包括其名字在內的商標并不陌生。自去年10月對Vengoechea發(fā)起商標攻擊以來，優(yōu)步還對試圖給“Uber Trash”、“UberAire”、“Uber Cuts”和“Uber Health”等名字注冊商標的個人發(fā)起了攻擊。

It’s a strategy that lawyers say is simply part of good corporate hygiene.

律師們表示，這種策略只是良好企業(yè)名譽習慣的一部分。

“The more they protect their mark, the more its value grows,” noted Michael Goldberg, a partner at law firm Pryor Cashman. “She’s a victim of Uber’s success, really.”

普賴爾·卡什曼律師事務所合伙人邁克爾·戈德伯格指出：“他們越是保護自己的商標，其價值就越大。”“她真的是優(yōu)步成功的受害者。”

But they also agree that Vengoechea, who works alone at her salon in Coral Gables, Fla., could actually have a shot in court.

但他們也同意，在佛羅里達州珊瑚山墻(Coral Gables)的沙龍里獨自工作的Vengoechea，實際上可以到法庭上試一試。

“Here, it appears that Uber has gone outside their normal zone of necessary protection and have opposed a mark which should not reasonably be opposed,” Steven Gursky, a partner at law firm Oshlan, said. “Perhaps being ‘uber’ wealthy allows them to be overly aggressive.”

奧什蘭律師事務所合伙人史蒂芬·古爾斯基說：“優(yōu)步似乎已經超出了正常的保護范圍，并反對了一個不應該被合理反對的標志。”“也許成為超級富豪會讓他們變得過于咄咄逼人。”

Vengoechea told The Post that Uber’s legal maneuvers have prevented her from being able to invest in the development of her app since the money she had set aside for the project has since been funneled instead into legal fees.

Vengoechea告訴《華盛頓郵報》，Uber的法律手段阻止了她投資開發(fā)自己的應用程序，因為她為該項目預留的資金后來被用于支付法律費用。

But now that she’s in the fight, she also doesn’t want to let Uber win.

但現(xiàn)在她也在戰(zhàn)斗中，她也不想讓優(yōu)步贏。

“I’m just a woman who’s trying to do her business and trying to do well and make it for my daughter,” she said. “When somebody has more money than you, they kill your dreams.”

她說：“我只是一個想做生意，想把事情做好，為我女兒爭取利益的女人。”“當有人比你有錢時，他們會扼殺你的夢想。”

Uber declined to comment for this story.

優(yōu)步拒絕就此事發(fā)表評論。