NPHC Sues Converse
 

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

African-American Sororities and Fraternities File Trademark
Infringement Suit Against Converse Suit alleges that Converse
gained at the expense of African-American groups and consumers

Dallas, TX - December 17, 2003 - The Council of Presidents
announced today that they have sued sports apparel company
Converse, Inc. for trademark infringement and deceptive trade
practices.

"We were concerned that Converse, using unfair competition and
infringing upon our groups' intellectual property, had deliberately
and callously decided to target the members of our organizations
for sales of its shoes without obtaining any sort of permission
from our groups," said Helen Owens, Chair of the Council of
Presidents and national president of Sigma Gamma Rho Sorority, Inc.

The lawsuit, which has been filed in the United District Court for
the Northern District of Texas, Dallas Division, maintains that
Converse has been manufacturing, marketing, and selling athletic
footwear, called the GreekPak, to members and supporters of African-
American fraternities and sororities and that this conduct
constitutes trademark and trade dress infringement, as well as
unfair competition and deceptive trade practices.
As indicated
by Harry Johnson, national president of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity,
Inc., "the Converse shoes we're looking at contain the identical
founding year and organizational colors as our respective
organizations and was an obvious attempt by Converse to capitalize
on the goodwill our groups have worked so hard to develop. This was
no coincidence."

The lawsuit charges that Converse has enriched itself at the
expense of the African-American fraternities and sororities and the
unsuspecting consumers who believe that Converse has permission
from and endorsement by these African-American groups to sell these
shoes. The lawsuit seeks damages for past acts of infringement,
punitive damages, and requests that Converse be enjoined from
continuing to sell these products without permission. Converse was
purchased by Nike in September 2003.

"This lawsuit will send the message to large and small companies
that our organizations will aggressively protect our rights and
will not tolerate anyone infringing upon these rights without us
taking action. If any person or organization wants the right to
market our intellectual property, they must come to us to discuss a
license or endorsement agreement. If they don't, they may find
themselves in court, said George Grace, national president of Omega
Psi Phi Fraternity, Inc. To be fair, competition has to be based on
a level playing field - companies must compete on the basis of
originality and according to the laws of this country. All we ask
is that Converse play by these rules and stop infringing our
rights."

The Council of Presidents is comprised of the heads of the nine
predominately African-American fraternities and sororities, which
includes Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc., Alpha Kappa Alpha
Sorority, Inc., Kappa Alpha Psi Fraternity, Inc., Omega Psi Phi
Fraternity, Inc., Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc., Phi Beta Sigma
Fraternity, Inc., Zeta Phi Beta Sorority, Inc., Sigma Gamma Rho
Sorority, Inc., and Iota Phi Theta Fraternity Inc. The Council of
Presidents represents the interests of the hundreds of thousands of
its members, who are in fields such as medicine, law, professional
sports, bipartisan elective offices, accounting, engineering,
aviation, finance and banking, print and broadcast media,
entertainment, sales, law enforcement, firefighting,
communications, teaching, telecommunications, data processing, human
resources, social work, etc.

The Council of Presidents collaborates on matters upon which the
National Pan Hellenic Council organizations share a common
interest. The nine NPHC member organizations each have hundreds of
chapters on college campuses and alumni chapters in cities across
the world and are actively involved in programs that enrich the
educational and economic lives of African-Americans.

-Intellectual property litigation attorneys Aubrey "Nick" Pittman
of Dallas, Texas (214-459-3454) and John S. Kendall of Chicago,
Illinois
(312-857-1997) represent the fraternities and sororities in the
lawsuit.

Contact:
Helen J. Owens, Chair
Council of Presidents
8800 South Stony Island Avenue
Chicago, IL 60617
773-873-9000 >>