Retailers Take Aim at One Another

When an electronics retailer placed splash guards bearing a competitor’s logo in the urinals of its stores, the competitor decided to take the dispute out of the bathroom and into the courtroom.

The Wiz claimed in a U.S. District Court lawsuit that the Edison, N.J.-based Tops Appliance City chain “embarked on actions intended to denigrate, disparage, dilute and place in disrepute” the Wiz logo by “prominently” displaying it for people “urinating into the urinal and onto the urinal splash guards” at Tops stores in the New York metropolitan area.

The Wiz said it wrote to Tops management asking that its name be removed from the urinals, noting the “tastelessness and unprofessionalism of such a gesture.” No reply came, and the suit was filed. But a lawyer for Tops said that “we’re pretty close” to reaching a settlement in the case.