Update: The lawsuit was settled on June 6, 2018, for an undisclosed amount. Reports indicated that the damages could exceed $10 million.



Holy Schnikes! A company claiming to own the name and likeness of late comedian Chris Farley is suing Trek over its popular Farley fat bike.

Back in September, Make Him Smile, Inc., filed a $10 million lawsuit alleging that Trek’s use of the Farley name associates “its Madison, Wisconsin-built, fat, loud, sturdy, rugged, and outlandish Midwestern Fat Bikes with Farley’s world-famous image as [a] fat, loud, sturdy, rugged Midwesterner.”

Trek’s lawyers filed a motion this week calling the suit groundless and asking that it get thrown out. (Update: In June 2018, a judge moved the lawsuit, originally filed in California, to a federal court in Madison because it’s closer to the parties involved.)

Make Him Smile—reportedly run by Kevin Farley, the late comedian’s brother—claims to own Farley’s name, likeness, image, and other intellectual property. If a judge rules in favor of the company, Trek might have to stop selling its bike under the Farley name, in addition to paying any potential monetary damages.

The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office issued Trek a trademark on the Farley name for “bicycles, bicycle frames, and bicycle structural parts” in 2014.

This isn’t the first time Make Him Smile has been involved in a trademark lawsuit. It sued the owner of chrisfarley.com in 2004 to gain control of the domain, but could not sufficiently prove at the time that it had obtained the rights to Farley’s intellectual property.

Was the Farley fat bike actually named after the Tommy Boy actor who died in 1997? Trek Brand Manager Eric Bjorling declined to comment, citing the ongoing litigation. Cyclists have raised the question before, but to our knowledge Trek has never confirmed or denied the connection.

If not Chris Farley, where did the name come from? Dictionary.com wasn’t much help, defining “Farley” only as a man’s given name as well as the surname of late American political leader James Farley. Urban Dictionary offers a few possibilities, all of them seeming too obscure or sexually explicit to account for the name.

Check out Trek's Farley EX 9.8:

According to Lea Bishop-Shaver, an Indiana University law professor, Trek could still retain the trademark even if it acknowledges that the name is an allusion to the Saturday Night Live star.



“To me, the Farley name [could] seem to be a play on Harley-Davidson bikes,” Bishop-Shaver said. “I could imagine a lawyer for Trek arguing that the name Farley came from ‘fat’ and ‘Harley,’ but my sense is that strategy usually backfires. Better to admit the name is a reference to Chris Farley and argue referential fair use.”

“Referential fair use,” as defined by the International Trademark Association, allows for the use of a trademarked name if it doesn’t “cause confusion and there is no indication of sponsorship or endorsement.”

It’s believed the two sides are working on a settlement, which could lead to the suit’s end and a handshake between the two parties. Or better yet, a hug.

Robert Annis After spending nearly a decade as a reporter for The Indianapolis Star, Robert Annis finally broke free of the shackles of gainful employment and now freelances full time, specializing in cycling and outdoor-travel journalism. Over the years, Robert's byline has appeared in numerous publications and websites, including Outside, National Geographic Traveler, Afar, Bicycling, Men's Journal, Popular Mechanics, Lonely Planet, the Chicago Tribune, and Adventure.com

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