Specialized forces war vet in Alberta to change bike shop name

Specialized is forcing the owner of a small bike shop in Cochrane, Alta., to change the name of the store, claiming that the American company owns the rights to the name “Roubaix.” Dan Richter, an Afghan war vet, has capitulated to Specialized’s demands to change the name of his store from the Cafe Roubaix Bicycle Studio because he doesn’t have the money to fight in court.

Richter says he didn’t name his shop after Specialized’s line of Roubaix bikes, but after the famous Paris-Roubaix race. “I had assumed that I could not register Roubaix as a trademark as it is a geographical location well-known in cycling, not to mention the wide-spread use of the term throughout the industry,” Richter said in a press release. Indeed, many cycling products are named Roubaix, from MEC’s tights to a Fuji bike.

Specialized has countered by saying that Richter should have checked a trademark database and that “we are required to defend or lose our trademark registration.” Richter, though confident that he has a good case against the bicycle giant, says that he simply doesn’t have the estimated $150,000 to fight in court and will have to start his brand anew.