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news
Peloton (picture Simon MacMichael)Indoor cycling brand Peloton threatens YouTuber with legal action ... for using the word 'peloton'
The company behind a £2,000 in-home exercise bike that enables the likes of David Beckham to take part in virtual spinning classes has told an Australian cyclist and YouTube user to stop using its name – Peloton – in the titles of his videos.
News of the letter Shane Miller received from its lawyers was greeted with a mixture of anger and derision in cycling circles, and the company has now backed down.
Founded in New York City in 2012, Peloton’s celebrity clientele includes chat show host Ellen DeGeneres and the film star Hugh Jackman.
Since its UK launch earlier this year, Peloton has grown to seven locations in London, including Covent Garden, Canary Wharf, Marylebone and King’s Road.
Its bikes, which come complete with a 22-inch HD screen, enable people to take part in its classes wherever they are, immersing them in a studio class set-up without having to leave their home.
Mr Miller, meanwhile, is a keen cyclist from Sydney – today he’s embarking on the Rapha Festive 500 – whose YouTube channel has a strong focus on indoor trainers and virtual cycling, with a number of films relating to Zwift.
But it was a segment, now in its 10th episode, called Digital Peloton News, that attracted the attention of Peloton’s lawyers, with Mr Millar tweeting a copy of a two-page letter he had received from them.
So.... @OnePeloton have set their lawyers onto me in regard to my "Digital Peloton News" segment on YouTube..... They own the term peloton? As in a group of cyclists? pic.twitter.com/ZldQcBUYqv
— Shane Miller (@gplama) December 21, 2018
After outlining the company’s origins and its use of the trademark, the letter continued:
It has come to Peloton’s attention that you have begun a web series on You Tube under the title “Digital Peloton News,” a program that focuses on news relating to fitness equipment and fitness technology, including bicycle fitness equipment. Given that the most prominent and distinctive term in the series title is “Peloton” and given that the series relates to goods very closely related to those sold by our client, Peloton is concerned that consumers will mistakenly believe your web series is affiliated or associated with Peloton.
The firm asked Mr Miller confirm within ten days that he had ceased using the title Digital Pelotoin News in the YouTube segment, “or any other title that incorporates our client’s Peloton mark, in connection with your web series.”
The replies on Twitter to his post included support and sympathy for his situation, anger addressed at Peloton, and no small amount of jokes aimed at the brand, with the situation reminiscent of one in 2013 when US bike brand Specialized backed down after trying to force the owner of a business in Canada called Café Roubaix to change its name.
As in this case, Specialized had tried to claim the trademarking of a word that has been in use in cycling for more than a century – in this case, Roubaix.
Happily, Peloton’s lawyers accepted Mr Miller’s explanation that he wasn’t looking to infringe their clients’ intellectual copyright but rather was using the word peloton in its general sense. They wrote:
We have reviewed your response with our client. Our concern was with you developing and claiming trademark rights in Peloton in connection with fitness equipment. Thank you for confirming that you are using the term ‘peloton’ descriptively, not as a trademark, and that you are not aware of any consumers being confused by your use.
Given these representations, and as long as the circumstances do not change, our client considers the matter to be resolved.
The word itself is of directly taken from French – where, long before it was used to describe a group of racing cyclists, originally meant a squad (of soldiers, for example).
Mr Miller did briefly consider renaming his YouTube schedule – with a seasonal twist.
Forced rebranding sorted. Can't beat 'em? Eat 'em. #HappyHolidays pic.twitter.com/oiQ37UwnIF
— Shane Miller (@gplama) December 23, 2018
Simon joined road.cc as news editor in 2009 and is now the site’s community editor, acting as a link between the team producing the content and our readers. A law and languages graduate, published translator and former retail analyst, he has reported on issues as diverse as cycling-related court cases, anti-doping investigations, the latest developments in the bike industry and the sport’s biggest races. Now back in London full-time after 15 years living in Oxford and Cambridge, he loves cycling along the Thames but misses having his former riding buddy, Elodie the miniature schnauzer, in the basket in front of him.
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38 comments
Peloton's real name is One Peloton, they don't even hold the @peloton Twitter account, for the latter cyclist Stuart in Essex does. I guess they aren't having much luck stealing the phrase from the cycling world.
I love cycling and walk past their Spitalfields "shop" at least twice a week. I've never popped in and, given that the two bored-looking assistants usually outnumber customers in the ratio of 2:0, I predict that Shane Miller's YouTube channel will outlive Nathan Barley's favourite local (exercise) bike shop.
"As much as I don't agree with intellectual property, it is required to defend a trademark otherwise it can be deemed invalid. (It's more the extended copyright terms that I don't agree with)"
Because nothing says "intellectual property" like stealing a word from another language, in common use within a sport and patenting it...
How can anybody believe this is good free advertising and some form of play by Peloton, bullying does not in deer you to the brand, in fact it does the complete opposite.
Who says it's good?
If its Bad why do it ?
The lawyers say it's good, thanks for answering the question.
Lawyers get paid no matter... unlike advertises
There's a print and digital magazine called Peloton which has been around a few years longer than the exercise club. I wonder who will sue whom.
https://pelotonmagazine.com/
Trademarks only cover the specific classes of products/services that they are registered for, so I doubt Peloton magazine has registered a trademark for selling exercise equipment (if they had, then they could challenge the newer trademark).
There can be overlap, like the famous case of Apple (computer manufacturer) branching out into selling music which wasn't welcomed by Apple the record label: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apple_Corps_v_Apple_Computer
....perhaps the Academie francaise should hear about this...they may even counter-sue. That is going to be my job for the evening....write to the Af; advise them of the situation, and get them to put 'Peloton' on its derriere.
Incidentally, Specialized deserves to be mentioned whenever a ludicrous trademark bullying incident comes up, but they were by no means the first, even in the cycling world. Who was? Why, the source of many of the world's shittiest trends, Donald Trump of course! His short-lived late-80s cycle race, the Tour de Trump, a tax dodge with possible connections to Russia, was predated by a local, exercise-promoting cycling event in Colorado called the Tour de Rump. But that didn't stop the man who would later become known as the Cheeto Jesus from getting one of his many, many lawyers to send the latter's organizers a cease and desist letter demanding they change their event's name, within 24 hours no less.
Nice.
First person to trademark cockwomble is the winner.
I am now considering trademarking the entire english language so watch out.merry christmas.
Touché
I’ve also walked past their Spitalfields shop and been a bit baffled at their target market. I suspect it’s not cyclists who would know the word peloton but gym monkeys who would never cycle outside anyway.
I've looked through their shop window a few times in Spitalfields, though can't imagine buying any of their zero-heritage, over-priced stuff.
They've benefitted from a bit of free advertising here (which I am sure was their intention). Let's make sure it backfires by boycotting this arrogant - and idiotic company - that thinks its can procure and patent cycling terminology. They'll be bust soon. And cycling will not miss them.
Just wait until Wheels Mfg starts sending out cease-and-desist notices.
Hmm, if I were a lawyer for Pinterest I might be thinking about sending out a letter about that logo.
This trademark shit confuses the fuck out of me.
https://trademark-search.marcaria.com/en/Result?trademark=peloton&countr...
I think your all missing the point here ..... How much was the blogger paid by Peloton to "react" to the "lawyers" thus generating all this press ..........
There's no point missed. The only communication I've had with Pelton Interactive Inc was via their lawyers, as posted online.
Welcome, Shane & merry Christmas.
Reading the letter you received, the writer was keen to emphasise their client’s brand IN CAPITALS. Wonder how many almost identical letters were issued by the associate?
If these upstarts had an issue with Miller's use of 'their' word couldn't they just email him, you know, person-to-person? If they played it right the could have even had a positive mention on his channel.
But no, that's not their way. They were out to CRUSH HIM. And they assumed that they have lawyers and he doesn't.
Arseholes.
Peloton peloton, digital peloton. I might write an app for that.
Peloton peloton PELOTON PELOTON digital peloton PELOTON. Or a song.
In the new year I might set up a fitness business simply called...
PELOTON
I hope the UCI sues them for the use of the word peloton.
Never mind the UCI, sounds like the French Foreign Legion might be having a word with them!
From the adverts you seem to be able to download an app to have some slightly posh blonde woman tell you to 'push' and 'smash' it. You also seem to need to live in an old factory conversion as well.
I didn't think she sounded particularly posh. More mad as a box of frogs. Thankfully I don't live in a factory conversion and so can avoid all this.
How much are Peloton paying for this free advertising?
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