Controversy over the word “spinning”

While it’s great that Specialized responded to public pressure over the word “Roubaix” this is far from an isolated indecent.

My small bike video company was targeted by Mad Dogg Athletics on a number of occasions demanding me to remove the word “spinning” from all of my pages and descriptions. Here’s how it some of it unfolded.

Oct 16/2009.
Please contact me in refrence to our removal of your items, as you are violating our Spinning trademark. Thank you. Rhona Attwater / Exec Asst to CEO John Baudhuin / Madd Dogg Athletics, Inc. 310.740.8834

Dec 30th 2009
Please remove the word “Spinning” from the title of your DVDs. Thanks – Rhona – Mad Dogg Athletics, Inc. (creators of Spinning) 310.740.8834 

june 23 2010
Please immediately remove our trademark “Spinning” from the title and description of your product. You can call me for further clarification. Rhona Attwater, Mad Dogg Athletics, Inc. 310.740.8834

June 26th 2010

MC019 eBay Listing Removed: Trademark Violation – Unauthorized Listing Content (397660389)

November 11 2010
What is the serial or registration number of this trademark? Paul Gallas

November 2010

Spinning
Registered:   10/1992
Class:  41
Description:  Providing training and instruction to others by simulating an outdoor bicycle workout completed indoors on a stationary bicycle
Registration #:  1,780,650

Today, I came across DVD’s you’re selling currently on ebay, and rather than report them to ebay as violating our trademark, it would be much appreciated if you would change the wording “Spinning workout” to “group cycling workout” or “indoor cycling workout”.   You must also refrain from using the words Spin® and/or Spinner®, as these are also words related to indoor cycling that are trademarked by our company.  Please make these changes by the end of today.  If you have any questions, feel free to call me.  My contact details are below.  Please also visit www.spinning.com if you’d like to familiarize yourself with our products and our Spinning program.

November 11 2010

Rhonda, thanks for the information. When the word “spinning” is referenced by my product,  it is in the context of cycling using high cadences. The word “spinning” with respect to cycling has been around a long time and is not an arbitrary word or concept invented by Maddog. The word spinning is used in conjunction with words like, mashing, hammering, cranking, coasting, soft pedaling,  and a slew of other terms designed to provide information about the type of cadences / efforts required by the ride. When this term is referenced by our product, it is not implying Maddog products, it is a descriptor of that ride. Unlike other companies attempting to design product and name the product in such a way to take advantage of the Maddog reputation, my product in no way does this.  Please note that the DVD titles do not use the word “Spinning” or “Spin” or any other words in an attempt to trade on Maddog’s reputation.  This is evident by the fact that our operation is miniscule compared with Maddog and sales volume isn’t even a blip on the radar. Additionally, products using the spinning descriptor in ebay ads do not generate sales disproportionately to those ads that do not use this descriptor.
Your feedback and information is always appreciated.
Paul 
November 2010
Paul, while I realize there are certain terms related to the outdoor cycling world such as the ones you describe below, you are calling your workout a “spinning” workout, not a “leg spinning workout,” or “spinning bike ride”.  Our Spinning® brand of indoor cycling or group cycling is a particular method that has been branded and is a trademark.   The fact that your DVD is used in an indoor setting, changes the outdoor terms into our trademarked term.   So, why didn’t you choose the  words “mashing” or “hammering”?    The fact that you use the word Spinning®  in the title to describe this DVD, may confuse ebay consumers into thinking they are actually purchasing a product endorsed by our company.   Protecting our valuable trademark is of utmost importance to us.  I realize that your sales volumes are not that of our company.  We are not trying to prevent you from selling your product, we just need to protect our brand which is why your item was removed from ebay.   That being said, please respect our trademark and refrain from using the terms Spin®, Spinning® and Spinner® when referring to indoor cycling.    
Feel free to call me if you’d like to discuss further.  310.740.8834
Kind Regards,
Rhona

November 2010
Hi, I spoke with Ria about this case and was advised to provide information in order to appeal the removal of this item. I have been in contact with Maddog Athletics for some time about using the word “spinning” to describe the workout videos that are produced by our company. I have made every attempt to remove any ambiguity with respect to the word “spinning” by including language that specifically identifies the word as a descriptor to the workout and not as a brand name. Even with an agreement that if the word spinning was used in conjunction with the word “‘leg” ie: “leg spinning” Maddog still wants to flag my ads as a trademark violation which clearly is not. A leg spinning workout is just that, a workout which one must spin their legs using high cadences in order to accomplish the goals of the workout. To ban the word “spinning” for a cycling workout is akin to banning the word “sneezing” with tissue paper. Additionally, the word “spinning” summarizes the workout using the fewest letters possible. Without the ability to fully describe the workout in the title, due to character limitations, it is impossible to describe the workout  as a “High peddling cadence workout” without running out of characters. Please review the correspondence I have had with Maddog in an attempt to work around their trademark.

October 31 2011
The listing was removed because it violated eBay policy.
The rights owner or an agent authorized to act on behalf of the rights owner, Mad Dogg Athletics, Inc., notified eBay that this listing violates intellectual property rights. When eBay receives a report of this type of violation, we remove the listing to comply with the law.
Your item was removed because of a request we received from Mad Dogg Athletics, Inc., a member of our Verified Rights Owner Program (VeRO), asking us to remove the item for:
– Listing(s) contains unlawful comparison to trademark owner’s brand name.

I was also contacted to remove all words from my website that used the words spin or spinning. This was the paragraph they were referring to:

Cycling Videos Online provides quality virtual cycling videos and DVD’s designed to target specific training goals. Each DVD is uniquely designed to enhance your indoor cycling experience. These training DVD’s will get your legs spinning using high cadences or burning with slow uphill grinds building strength, endurance and confidence. Whether you are a certified Spin Instructor, cycling coach or a single rider at home on a stationary bike or bike trainer, these videos can spice up the workout with real ride video from across the US. No special equipment is required to use these DVD’s. Required is a DVD player and a TV. No regional encoding allows DVD’s to play worldwide. All POV virtual cycling videos on this web site have video previews for you to watch before you purchase. Please take your time and peruse the entire video and DVD collection

This is a typical DVD box: