JESUS JEANS V. JESUS SURFED: THIS TIME, IT’S BIBLICAL!

It appears Jesus Jeans SRL, the controversial Italian fashion company, has cast the first stone against Michael Julius Anton, the man behind the ‘Jesus Surfed’ fashion label, in its latest attempt to stop anyone from registering the name ‘Jesus’ as a trademark for clothing. It seems most have ‘turned the other cheek’ and backed down – but not Mr. Anton.

Mr. Anton filed a federal trademark application to register JESUS SURFED in May 2012 for shirts, t-shirts, hats and bandanas (Application No: 85/638044). Jesus Jeans then filed an Opposition to the application with the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board (TTAB) in February 2013 arguing that the JESUS SURFED mark would, if registered, cause confusion with its own registered mark, JESUS (Registration No: 3232057) which covers a variety of clothing items. Jesus Jeans argued its rights in the mark date back to 1999 and asserted that it had successfully opposed similar applications for ‘Jesus Couture’, ‘Jesus Image’, ‘Sweet Jesus’, ‘Jesus Loves Jeans’, ‘Jesus Chic’, ‘Jesus First’, and ‘Jesus Saves’, to name but a few.