When the owners of Leucadia, a clothing brand few locals have heard of, sent cease and desist letters to mom and pop shops in Leucadia, the niche beach neighborhood of Encinitas, to stop them from using the community name on their products, shop owners were beside themselves.
Jim Shatto's son owns Shatto & Sons Custom T-Shirts on Coast Highway 101. Jim has been selling “Keep Leucadia Funky” t-shirts since the 70s and took the cease and desist letter for a bully attempt.
As Aaron Burgin at the Coast News first reported, clothing line owner Flashbuz registered Leucadia with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office in 2016 and claimed it had exclusive rights to the name.
“I went through the roof,” Shatto said, describing the moments after he read the letter from Flashbuz. “Infuriating, to say the least.”
Shatto said he and other shop owners shared their frustration on social media and their disdain was quickly adopted by other proud Leucadians.
In a statement to NBC 7, Steven Chase with Leucadia, the clothing brand, acknowledged serving the cease and desist letters was a mistake.
"Once the impact was discovered, the orders were rescinded and apologies made,” he said. “A simple error with a swift correction."
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But it’s not so simple for Shatto.
“It's not a simple thing,” he said. “This has been an attempt to bully different merchants in Leucadia.
The bottom line for Shatto is that anyone should be able to put Leucadia on anything because no one should be restrictive of the community name that means so much to them.
