Cloudy skies. A stray shower or thunderstorm is possible. Low 64F. Winds S at 10 to 15 mph..
Cloudy skies. A stray shower or thunderstorm is possible. Low 64F. Winds S at 10 to 15 mph.
Nathan Dooly, left, and Clem Kwok show some of the products made by their company, Win-D-Fender, which lets flutists play in windy conditions. They’re being accused of trademark infringement by guitar manufacturer Fender.
Clem Kwok, left, and Nathan Dooly hold the legally registered trademark for their company, Win-D-Fender, at an office in Grapevine. Their Bartonville-based company produces proprietary wind shield equipment that allows flutists to play in windy conditions, and is being accused of trademark infringement by Fender.
Clem Kwok, left, and Nathan Dooly show some of the products made by their company, Win-D-Fender, which lets flutists play in windy conditions. They're being accused of trademark infringement by guitar manufacturer Fender.
Clem Kwok, left, and Nathan Dooly hold the legally registered trademark for their company, Win-D-Fender, at an office in Grapevine. Their Bartonville-based company produces proprietary wind shield equipment that allows flutists to play in windy conditions, and is being accused of trademark infringement by Fender.
Nathan Dooly, left, and Clem Kwok show some of the products made by their company, Win-D-Fender, which lets flutists play in windy conditions. They’re being accused of trademark infringement by guitar manufacturer Fender.
Nathan Dooly, left, and Clem Kwok show some of the products made by their company, Win-D-Fender, which lets flutists play in windy conditions. They’re being accused of trademark infringement by guitar manufacturer Fender.
Clem Kwok, left, and Nathan Dooly hold the legally registered trademark for their company, Win-D-Fender, at an office in Grapevine. Their Bartonville-based company produces proprietary wind shield equipment that allows flutists to play in windy conditions, and is being accused of trademark infringement by Fender.
Clem Kwok, left, and Nathan Dooly show some of the products made by their company, Win-D-Fender, which lets flutists play in windy conditions. They're being accused of trademark infringement by guitar manufacturer Fender.
Clem Kwok, left, and Nathan Dooly hold the legally registered trademark for their company, Win-D-Fender, at an office in Grapevine. Their Bartonville-based company produces proprietary wind shield equipment that allows flutists to play in windy conditions, and is being accused of trademark infringement by Fender.
Nathan Dooly, left, and Clem Kwok show some of the products made by their company, Win-D-Fender, which lets flutists play in windy conditions. They’re being accused of trademark infringement by guitar manufacturer Fender.
BARTONVILLE — It was just before 10 in the morning when Clem Kwok got what he thought was a spam email. The three-person company Kwok had helped found had never used the company email for anything other than business, and he certainly hadn’t signed up for any marketing emails from Fender Musical Instruments Corp.
But as he read and reread the attached letter, he realized it wasn’t spam — it was a cease-and-desist letter drafted by the music giant’s attorneys.
“I must have read the letter 10 times,” Kwok said.
The letter, dated June 8, 2021, accuses Kwok’s company, Win-D-Fender, of trademark infringement. It demands the Bartonville-based company stop using its name and “expressly withdraw and surrender its application and registration” with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.
“The trademarks Win-D-Fender and En-D-Fender both incorporate the entirety of FMIC’s famous Fender mark and these marks are used in connection with musical instrument accessories that are highly related to the goods sold by FMIC,” the letter reads in part. “WDF’s use of these marks is likely to cause confusion among consumers as to both the source of WDF’s products, as well as to an authorized affiliation, connection or sponsorship by or with FIC.”
Kwok frantically searched for the lawyer’s information online to make sure he and his Chicago-based firm existed. Next, he checked that Win-D-Fender’s trademark — which the flute accessory company had filed for in 2017 — was still registered.
“It was and still is,” Kwok said.
For Kwok and his partners, Nathan Dooly and Patrick Reeves, the name is more than just a play on words. The idea for the company began more than 20 years ago when Dooly, a private music teacher and a musician himself, was in search of a solution that would allow flutists to play in the often-windy Texas weather, which would otherwise silence the instruments.
“I thought somebody must have created something to fix this, and I started looking for something to buy, but there was nothing,” Dooly said.
Dooly had long been friends with Reeves and met his friend Kwok a few years ago. Like Reeves, Kwok had a background in product development, and before long, the trio brought Win-D-Fender from concept to reality. The company now sells flute wind shields online and through dealers across the U.S. and in a handful of other countries.
The name isn’t a nod to instrument company Fender — which is not in the flute business, Dooly points out. Instead, it’s a stylized spelling of “wind defender.”
“I thought, ‘That’s kind of an alliteration — it’s fun to say [and] it sounds like something that people could remember,’” Dooly said.
But according to Fender, the name clearly violates their famous trademark.
“The mark ‘Fender’ is a federally registered trademark of FMIC and protected under applicable federal trademark laws,” a Fender spokesperson told the Denton Record-Chronicle. “Beyond that, I unfortunately cannot comment on Fender’s legal matters.”
The company’s attorney did not returned requests for comment by Friday afternoon.
It’s not the first time Fender has accused a small brand of trademark infringement. Lucky Dog Guitars, a one-man, Tennessee-based boutique guitar builder received legal threats from the company in 2019, according to a post on Ultimate-Guitar.com. Owner Anthony Sims said Fender’s complaints centered around similarities between his Televangelist electric guitar and Fender’s Telecaster model.
After complying with what he said were “quite a few requests from this large manufacturer,” Sims launched a GoFundMe campaign to raise money for attorney fees, which ran as high as $650 per hour.
At least 14 other companies have been accused of trademark infringement by Fender since the early 2000s, according to Trademarkia.
For Win-D-Fender, the stakes are just as high, Kwok says.
“We pulled money from our savings and retirement to create this,” Kwok said. “It’s just the three of us, and we haven’t even drawn a salary — all of our profits go back into expanding this business and trying to grow it.”
Though they were baffled as to why Fender would object three years after their trademark had been approved — rather than during the 30-day window for objections that was set up by the Patent and Trademark Office — the partners discussed what it would mean to bow to Fender’s demands and give up their trademark.
They quickly realized it could spell the end of their company, Dooly said.
“We’d have to get rid of everything we’ve produced that has the word Win-D-Fender on it — every product, every packaging,” Dooly said. “We wouldn’t be able to use our founding documents for our LLC, our tax license wouldn’t work anymore, we’d have to get new bank accounts. Then we’d have to not only get rid of all that, we would have to reproduce all that stuff, which means artists and lawyers and accountants — it’s an astronomical expense at this point.”
Attempts to talk with Fender directly were denied by the company’s attorney, Kwok said. If they had had a chance to meet with Fender representatives directly, they would have told them they don’t want a legal battle at all — they just want to stay in business.
“We’re trying to find a peaceful way to get out of this, but it can’t be so burdensome to us that if we give them what they want, it crushes us,” Kwok said.
Win-D-Fender would be open to a mentorship agreement with the company that would allow them to give up the trademark without becoming financially insolvent, a move they feel would be mutually beneficial for both businesses.
For now, the ball is in Fender’s court, Kwok says. The company has initiated litigation against Win-D-Fender with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, and the companies are currently in the discovery phase of the process.
The trio asks that members of the public wanting to offer support email consumerrelations@fender.com and customerrelations@win-d-fender.com and ask the company to stop legal action against Win-D-Fender. The business also has started an online fundraiser.
“Supporting Win-D-Fender is supporting a small business, the music community and folks who have followed their dream,” Kwok said. “We would like to peacefully coexist with a company that sells unrelated products.”
AMBER GAUDET can be reached at 940-566-6889 and via Twitter at @amb_balam.
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