On my Friday radio show, as I was ranting about Stephen Colbert giving Gwyneth Paltrow a network TV platform to promote her Goop nonsense, Tim Wilund asked how she can use that name when there's already a company in St. Louis that makes a hand cleaner called Goop -- complete with a registered trademark. I answered that I didn't know, but I would e-mail the company and report back on any response.
Over the weekend I did exactly that, asking if they had licensed the name to Paltrow or challenged the use of their trademark in court, and whether there's a legal reason they can't prevent her from using Goop. This morning, I received this reply from Blake Critzas, whose Critzas Industries manufactures Goop:
We wanted to take this opportunity to say thank you, for looking-out for all of us here a GOOP. Your concern for us is very flattering. We are a family-owned business, and have been manufacturing GOOP since the 1940’s. We greatly appreciate your support, as we feel our GOOP brand is steeped in tradition as an American icon. We support this notoriety, and accolade, as we have been in business so many decades here in the States, and additionally, our founder was an awarded WWII hero.
There is not, nor has there ever been a connection of her products to our GOOP brand. We are aware of this situation, and have been for some time. Unfortunately the court system believes that since it is a different type of product (ie not another hand cleaner), that it is not infringing on our brand.
We can only ask that our customers continue to support us, and use our quality Made in USA GOOP products, while we focus on producing the best possible products available on the market. We certainly appreciate all of your concern, as we feel very lucky to have caring customers like yourselves.
That's a shame, because I would love to see a good attorney who specializes in intellectual property take on Paltrow and make her pay. While there's no legal way to stop her from spreading ridiculous claims about the products she sells, it would be nice if there were a way to get her to stop co-opting the name of a company that's been around for much longer than she's been alive and doesn't want to be associated with her business.