By Miranda Olson

Victoria’s Secret, worldwide known lingerie and loungewear retailer, recently filed an 18 page petition to cancel The Pink Store’s trademark.

The online retailer, thepinkstore.com, was founded in 2011 by 1992 Atlantic High School graduate, Rebekah Doolittle.  Doolittle received registration for the trademark last May from the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.  The Pink Store offers a wide variety of items, ranging from women’s clothing, men’s accessories, and even toys and accessories for children and pets.

Victoria’s Secret is claiming consumer confusion and have expressed that “Doolittle can never have a storefront called The Pink Store.”  If the petition were to go through enough people, the store could continue to use their logo, and possibly remain online.  But the major opportunity loss that The Pink Store would have to cope with would be not being able to grow into a possible storefront and franchise.  The store would also lose a few legal rights that came with the name being trademarked.

Doolittle said, “I’m frustrated because the two companies are like apples to oranges.  Other than the color pink, there is simply nothing similar about the two companies that would cause consumer confusion.”  She also said, “Not only that, but I’ve built my company for the past three years, took time and money to trademark it to protect what I started and have the option to grow it larger, only to have a globally recognized company come in and try to take something away.  It saddens me that this can actually happen.”

Junior Erin Shannon took part in one of the Pink Store’s photoshoots in the summer of 2012.  Shannon said, “I really don’t get why they would do that because she’s not trying to steal their ideas.  She just wanted to be a successful entrepreneur and make a profit from her own ideas.”

To support their battle against the big guys, you can go to their facebook page (The Pink Store) or twitter (@thepinkstorecom), and share their story or retweet.  Doolittle said, “The amount of support from everyone has been amazing!  Getting more likes and followers is huge!”

Check out The Pink Store online: https://www.thepinkstore.com/