CORAL GABLES, FL (BRAIN)—Citizen Bike, a Florida folding bike company, is suing Jamis Bicycles claiming that its name doesn’t infringe on Jamis’ trademark rights.
Jamis manufacturers and sells three bicycles that go by the name Citizen 1, Citizen 2 and Citizen 3.
According to court documents filed on December 1 in United States District Court for the Southern District of Florida, Jamis sent Citizen Bike letters in October and November stating that “Citizen Bike is infringing upon and diluting Jamis’ purported trademark rights and unfairly competing with Jamis.”
Jamis’ use of the Citizen model names date back to 1986, while Citizen Bike only became a business in 2005. However, according to court documents, Jamis doesn’t own a federal trademark registration for the mark “Citizen.” Jamis applied to register said mark by filing an application on October 14, 2009, according to court documents.
Citizen Bike is seeking a declaratory judgment of non-infringement and non-dilution.
Jamis had no comment and Citizen didn’t return a request for comment on this story.
—Jason Norman
