Andrew Sullivan for The New York TimesProcter Gamble had argued that Willa, Christy Prunier’s skin care line, is too similar to the name of its Wella hair care products.
A Connecticut mother and businesswoman has won the right to name her company after her daughter, Willa, despite the objections of the nation’s largest consumer products company.
Christy Prunier spent the last three years creating a line of skin care products aimed at preteenage girls like Willa, who is 11. But after obtaining trademark approval from the government early this year, she received a cease and desist letter from Procter Gamble, which owns the hair care brand Wella.
Lawyers for Procter Gamble said consumers would be confused because of the similarities, and demanded that she drop the name Willa. Ms. Prunier fought back. The two sides were scheduled to go to trial this week but instead settled the dispute, subject to a judge’s approval.
“We are pleased to confirm that this matter has been amicably resolved,” said Jennifer Chelune, a spokeswoman for Procter Gamble, in an e-mail. She declined to elaborate.
Lawyers for Ms. Prunier also declined to provide additional specifics about the settlement, other than confirming that their client can continue to use the name Willa for her line of lip balm, facial masks and other skin care products.
Ms. Prunier, who had likened her struggle to David versus Goliath, declined to comment, citing confidentiality provisions in the settlement pact.
Trademark lawyers said it was not uncommon for disputes like Ms. Prunier’s to settle just before trial.
“What’s important to brand owners is control, and a private resolution that allows continued use in certain respects rather than an all-or-nothing decision by a judge or jury can be a good result,” said James D. Weinberger, an intellectual-property lawyer at Fross Zelnick Lehrman Zissu in New York. “If you go to trial and win, great; but if you lose, there can be long-term damage that is difficult to repair.”
Mr. Prunier’s battle with P. G. is just the latest case of a small-business owner claiming “trademark bullying” by a large corporation. This summer, the Maya Archaeology Initiative fought claims by Kellogg that a bird in the organization’s logo was too similar to Toucan Sam, the bird on the Froot Loops cereal box. The sides settled the dispute, allowing the Mayan group to use its mark.
The legal battles have caught the attention of Congress, which last year passed legislation that required a study of the issue. The subsequent Commerce Department report concluded that there was inconclusive evidence of widespread trademark bullying and that disputes “may be best addressed by the existing safeguards in the litigation system.”
A former film executive, Ms. Prunier said the idea of creating a cosmetics business for preteenage girls arose while Willa was taking a bath several years ago. Willa complained that she was tired of using “babyish” soaps and instead wanted soap made for girls her age.
Ms. Prunier spent the next three years meeting with chemists and developing a line of soaps and lotions that will be sold in purple and white bottles. She said her face wash was meant to “smell like a girl in the summertime who takes a shower outside.”
Willa had caught the attention of Target, J. Crew and an Upper East Side boutique owned by the actress Phoebe Cates before the squabble with Procter Gamble left the business in limbo.
The company’s namesake was in school on Friday and unavailable for comment.
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