July 9, 2007
Boston's Amphibious Fight
Once in a while a story comes around that's pretty much perfect for the Herald to report. Today they took one and ran with it. From 'ducky' to 'billing' to 'pecking order' to 'pluck', and that's all just in the headline and lede. They didn't shoot their load on 'quacked up' until half way through the article on the court filings for the trademark dispute between the two local amphibious tours. The case filed in Federal court, Boston Duck Tours v. Super Duck Tours, LLC, pits the new company as the defendant with Boston Duck Tours who've been quacking around the city since 1994 asserting that Super Duck Tours which launched earlier this year is stealing their image.
Super Duck Tours, LLC began giving tours in May of this year – they include a tour around Boston's streets and a dip in the harbor in their Hydra-Terra vehicles, which seem to be the Hummer H2 to the Boston Duck Tours' Jeep Cherokee (which is actually a WWII vehicle). The Boston Duck Tours are trying to protect their business carrying over a half a million tourists each year, to that end they're hoping the law suit will help them pull a Morgan Spurlock and prove that "super-sized" isn't necessarily a good thing. Or more accurately they're trying to prove that Super Duck Tours isn't just a bigger better version of the tour they've been offering for over a decade. It's been some years since Bostonist has been aboard any duck-branded vehicle, but from what we gather the Super Duck Tours hit more of the Harbor and Charlestown sites where the Boston Duck Tours take more command of the Charles in their tour. Either way, and whichever side comes victorious from the law suit we'd hate to have to navigate a 40 foot truck/boat through the streets of Boston.
Image of the Boston Duck Tours vehicle and the Super Duck Tours vehicle, both in a soothing yellow color and both from the front page of their respective websites. The Boston Duck Tours is a bit more colorful - might we reintroduce you to South End Sarah?
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I love you guys. Love, love. That's why I have to alert you to a gaffe in your lede: it's "once in a while," not once AND a while." Besides that, Bostonist rocks!
we gotta have people like you watching our backs. thanks trutopia...sometimes the mind gets foggy...
By now I think most people around here know that the term "duck" is the nickname that was hung on the actual amphibious WWII vehicles, the DUKW, that have been used by Boston Duck Tours since inception. The name "Super Duck" has nothing at all to do with the vehicle that the newer outfit is using. To me it looks like a lay-up on a finding of infringement; namely, that Super Duck is attempting to use association with the existing name to enhance its own recognition within a similar business. If a company making bathtub sponges called one item the "Super Duck", then Boston Duck Tours wouldn't have an argument, but here they definitely do.
The following tour operators all use Hydra-Terras:
- Diva Duck Amphibious Tours (West Palm Beach, FL)
- DownEast Duck Tours (Portland, ME)
- Portland Ducks (Portland, OR)
- Albany Aqua Ducks (Albany, NY)
- Ride The Ducks
(Philadelphia,Seattle,Baltimore,Memphis,etc)
- Caribbean Duck Tours (St. Maarten)
- Captain Duck Tours (Puerto Rico)
- Miami Duck Tours (Miami, FL)
There are also other non-DUKW vehicles that are widely recognized as 'Duck's, including:
- LARC (a vietnam era military vehicle), used by Cape Cod Duckmobiles (Hyannis, MA)
- Stalwart (another military vehicle), used by Austin Duck Adventures (Austin, TX)
Those are all good examples of precedent for use of the term "Duck" by outfits not operating the actual equipment which begat the nickname; however, did any of those towns already have tour companies already using DUKW's and the "Duck" name? That's the bigger part of this: newer company attempting to co-op brand recognition established by existing company, via use of part of existing company's (more relevant) name.
When a company has a monopoly, as Boston Duck Tours has enjoyed for so long here in Boston, it is natural that people would drop the proper name, and use the name of the service instead. This is exactly the process that made the term 'duck tour' a generic term around the world over the past decade. It is unfortunate that most of Boston Duck Tours customers cannot recall the correct company name, but that should not give them sole ownership of terms that people use instead. In fact, a large percentage of references I've heard call them 'duck boats', though its not part of any official name or description by the Boston Duck Tours. If a company called 'Duck Boats' opened in Boston, would that be trademark infringement? It would certainly sound more confusing to me than 'Super Duck Tours'.
I don't think that Super Duck wants to be confused with Boston Duck Tours. It only makes good common sense, though, that they would want people to know from their name what kind of services they offer, which is DUCK TOURS. Super Duck Excursions sounds more like a hunting trip. I think it's terribly unfair to cripple a business by barring it from using the service that it offers as part of its name.