Crossfit Culture and Dissenters

[Hannah McFarlane]

I'm fairly new to Crossfit, but as I have become more involved in the sport, I have also started to become more involved in the online community. I like following people like Fitness Lonnie, Drywall, and (to the point of this post) The Naked Crossfitter.

As some of you are probably aware, a dispute has arisen between HQ and The Naked Crossfitter. On its face, it is a trademark dispute, but it seems the real driver is that Armen is too critical of Crossfit.

So I think this brings up an interesting point for discussion: Is there a place for people like Armen in the larger Crossfit community? Or is HQ right in trying to shut him down?

[Sean Dunston]

I don't pretend to know the ins-and-outs of this, and I'm not even sure if this is worthy of discussion on this forum.
That said-
I don't think that the issue is that he has criticism of HQ and that HQ is shutting him down - everyone is entitled their opinion.
It appears to me that the issue is that he uses a name that is either protected by a trademark owned by HQ, or the name he is using is so close in name/sound/likeness that it can be confused by the public to be associated with HQ... and he is potentially making a profit off that by selling shirts, etc.
It looks like he can say whatever he wants about CF/HQ/etc., but he can not do it with a name/likeness that can be confused with legally protected (trademarked) property of CrossFit, Inc.

[Hannah McFarlane]

Originally Posted by Sean Dunston

I don't think that the issue is that he has criticism of HQ and that HQ is shutting him down - everyone is entitled their opinion.
It appears to me that the issue is that he uses a name that is either protected by a trademark owned by HQ, or the name he is using is so close in name/sound/likeness that it can be confused by the public to be associated with HQ... and he is potentially making a profit off that by selling shirts, etc.
It looks like he can say whatever he wants about CF/HQ/etc., but he can not do it with a name/likeness that can be confused with legally protected (trademarked) property of CrossFit, Inc.

If you read the letters from HQ posted on the site, specifically the second one, it seems pretty obvious that they are going after him for what he is saying. The trademark angle is just the means to an end.