THOROUGHBRED RACING / BILL CHRISTINE : Under It All, Legalities Wear on the Jockeys

About 15 years ago, a public relations man in New York wrote Jockey International, the company that makes underwear, inquiring if it might be interested in using some bona fide riders to endorse its goods. Jockeys for Jockey seemed such a natural idea, but when the underwear people replied, the brainstorming flack was caught short. Jockey International had no interest whatsoever.

Then a few years ago, the Jockeys’ Guild, which represents most of the riders in this country, made plans to introduce its own line of sports apparel--jackets, caps, sweaters, golf shirts, etc. Just about everything but underwear. This is when the antennae of several executives at Jockey International in Kenosha, Wis., began pointing in the direction of the Jockeys’ Guild headquarters in Lexington, Ky. The antennae of Jockey International’s legal staff were especially homing in on Lexington.

Now the Jockeys’ Guild has come out with its first line of clothes. The group has published a snappy four-color brochure that has some of its most celebrated riders--Pat Day, Jerry Bailey, Mike Smith and Tami Purcell--modeling the gear. But there’s one thing missing. The logo on all the items doesn’t have the word jockey in it. In fact, jockey appears only a few times in the brochure--mostly buried in the advertising copy’s small print.

The logo on the clothing says “The Guild,” and there’s a riding cap above the lettering and a riding crop underneath. Thank heaven for small pictures, because otherwise the public might not know whether this is the Jockeys’ Guild selling these articles, or the Newspaper Guild, or the Actors’ Guild, or any of the dozens of other guilds.

A call was placed to Kentucky to see who took the Jockey out of the Jockeys’ Guild. “Jockey International did,” said John Giovanni, a former rider who is national manager of the Jockeys’ Guild. “We’ve been in business a long time, but we never registered the ‘Jockey’ trademark. Jockey International did. And they wrote me a nasty letter saying that I’d better not use (their trademark) in any of the things we’re selling.”

Jockey International has owned the licensed trademark since the 1930s or ‘40s, according to Charlotte Shapiro, legal counsel for Jockey International.

“Anyone familiar with trademark law would understand that this is not such a far-fetched restriction that we’re putting on the Jockeys’ Guild,” Shapiro said. “We’re not being unreasonable. If the Jockeys’ Guild came out with the word jockey on their clothing line, most people would not know that this isn’t Jockey International’s products. This was our greatest concern. Besides underwear, we produce a lot of things that are like the line that the jockeys are coming out with.”

Giovanni said that as the Jockeys’ Guild attempted to launch this enterprise, Jockey International was willing to make one concession. “They were going to allow us to sell a few thousand caps and T-shirts over a two-year period, providing that we would then never use the word jockey again,” he said. “I put that letter in my round file. They’re a bunch of bullies, that’s what they are.”

Referring to her own file on this matter, Shapiro said Jockey International’s offer wasn’t the way Giovanni remembered it. “We were going to let them use the word jockey if they agreed to sell only 2,500 T-shirts, 2,500 jackets and 2,500 caps a year, for an unlimited number of years,” she said. “But only their own members could buy these items, and all of the proceeds would have to go to the Jockeys’ Guild’s disabled-jockeys fund.”

As it is, a percentage of the profits from “The Guild” clothing line is going toward the support of disabled jockeys.

“That was our idea from the beginning,” Giovanni said. “All I’m trying to do is provide money for 47 riders who are permanently disabled. I wish I had a couple hundred thousand dollars to spare, and I’d take them to court. But I don’t.”

Shapiro wanted to make it clear that Jockey International is not suggesting that Giovanni’s organization be stripped of its official name. It’s just that when it comes to selling clothes, the jockeys can’t be “Jockeys.”

This does not appease Giovanni, who because of his battles with Jockey International has recently become a critic of television underwear commercials.

“Did you see some of the things they’ve been running?” Giovanni said. “They’ve got some guys who are dressed up like jockeys, and not one of them looks like a real jockey. None of their caps fit. And one of them looks like he’s about 80 years old. The least they could have done was hire Laffit Pincay. He’s got a body that looks like it’s been sculpted. And there are a lot of other riders around who are built just as good as he is.”

Fighting back the only way he knows how, Giovanni has been fishing around with other companies, competitors of Jockey International, to see if they would join the Jockeys’ Guild in the marketplace.

“I’ve already got the theme for the first campaign,” Giovanni said. “How about: ‘ Real Jockeys Wear Munsingwear’?”