Guns N’ Roses is taking aim at a Houston-based online gun seller for alleged trademark infringement.
In a lawsuit filed Dec. 1 in U.S. District Court for the Central District of California, the rock band claims Texas Guns and Roses, owned by Jersey Village Florist, is using its name without “approval, license or consent.”
Texas Guns and Roses, registered in 2016, sells firearms, ammunition, scopes and body armour – and offers four arrangements of roses. According to the lawsuit, GNR sent a cease-and-desist letter to the company in 2019.
GNR alleges the website is “confusing consumers into believing that it was connected or associated with, or licensed by, GNR.” The band “quite reasonably does not want to be associated with Defendant, a firearms and weapons retailer” which, the lawsuit claims, “espouses political views related to the regulation and control of firearms and weapons … that may be polarizing to many US consumers.”
The band is seeking a court order barring the website from using the name as well as unspecified damages.
David L. Clark, a lawyer representing Jersey Village Florist, told City News Service: “Absolutely no one is confused. Nobody thinks we're the band or there is some affiliation. We will be fighting back.”