Photo: River Callaway/Variety via Getty Images
Since January, drag queen and environmental activist Pattie Gonia has been locked in a legal battle with the outdoor-gear brand that inspired her name. Five months after Patagonia sued Pattie — whose legal name is Wyn Wiley — for trademark infringement, Pattie has spoken publicly for the first time, and she is not thrilled with how things are going.
On her social-media pages, the activist posted a lengthy Notes app statement urging followers to join her in calling on Patagonia to drop the suit. In addition, Wiley posted an open letter to the company directly asking executives to drop the suit as well.
In her statement, Pattie accused Patagonia of using its corporate power to bully and erase an activist and threaten her with over $1 million in legal fees. (The lawsuit is seeking $1 in damages plus legal fees, for which a dollar amount wasn’t given.) Pattie argued that the suit directly contradicts Patagonia’s stated mission to save the environment by threatening her brand, her activism, and the people she employs. She also disputes many of the specific claims made in the lawsuit, including that she has done “irreparable harm” to Patagonia’s brand.
Patagonia’s lawyers argued in the lawsuit that the inciting incident for taking legal action was the activist filing to trademark the Pattie Gonia name, which they say would create a direct competitor with the company and confuse customers. According to the suit, Pattie agreed in 2022 not to use the Patagonia logo or fonts, nor the Pattie Gonia name, on products at the company’s request. The suit seems to argue that this agreement was made in perpetuity, while Pattie Gonia contended in her statement that it was made for a single event. As for the alleged trademark infringement, Pattie’s post noted that creative parody is inherent to drag (plus, she says, it was free PR for the company).
Pattie added that she finds the timing of this lawsuit suspect. “Isn’t it interesting that the multi billion dollar corporation Patagonia chose this exact moment, the height of anti-LGBTQ+ politics and attacks on the environment to sue me,” she said in her statement. “I think they looked at the political moment and thought they could pull this off without much pushback.” In absolute fairness, one could also argue that waiting to post this response until the week before Pride Month is also convenient timing, but that’s life under capitalism, isn’t it? Hopefully Pattie and Patagonia work things out so we can all celebrate Pride and buy our summer baggies without feeling like children of divorce.
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