Bill Gallagher recounts a trademark dispute between Hamilton Watches and Swatch Group. The judge asked whether a typical New York pedestrian would recognize Hamilton as a famous brand, and brought up the Broadway musical Hamilton during courtroom arguments about the name's recognition.
The height of the lawsuit is when the Hamilton play came out in New York on Broadway. And so the judge. The judge brought that up, and she was like, basically, Hamilton and Swatch Group was trying to prove that Hamilton Watches was a famous brand. And by being a famous brand and me, you know, using their brand to make money, that's why the case was so significant. And she was like, the judge wasn't a watch person. And so she was just like, well, we have to think about this in the eyes of the general consumer. The person just walking down the streets of New York, if you tell them the word Hamilton, what do they think of? And she's like, personally, I think about Broadway. And most of the people in the room laughed. Their attorneys didn't. But.
