Hearing over Double Decker trademark rescheduled for later this month

Published 11:00 am Tuesday, May 9, 2017

A court hearing between the city of Oxford and a local T-shirt business was continued Friday to later this month.

Just days before the Double Decker Arts Festival, a Chancery Court judge issued a temporary restraining order against Oxford T-Shirt Co. at the city’s request, ordering the apparel business to stop selling merchandise advertising the festival.

The city of Oxford filed the request for the temporary restraining order, claiming Oxford T-Shirt had committed trademark infringement by selling the Double Decker items.

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On Friday, Mike Tatum asked Chancery Court Judge Robert Whitwill for the continuance to allow him time to hire an attorney. Whitwell extended the restraining order and continued to hearing until 9:30 a.m. On May 17 at the Chancery Court in Oxford.

Through the city’s tourism department, Visit Oxford, raises funds through T-shirt and other memorabilia sales during the annual Double Decker Arts Festival, that goes into the budget to help fund the event for the following year. The name has been used since 1996 for the festival and is used to help promote tourism to the city.

In September 2013, the city had the festival’s name trademarked so that only the city of Oxford could use the name on materials associated with the festival.