Newness feels good: new linens, a new haircut, a new day, a new name.

It’s the dawning of a new day for our small family business, a day to start fresh and shrug off the old.  In this new day of this new year, we are making big changes… which is frightening and exciting all at the same time. First on the list: change our business name.

Thread Bears has been our business name for quite some time. In 2003, the owners of the trademark had given us the rights. They had told us that they believed that God wanted us to have it. It was an incredible thing to hear. For that reason alone, the name had sentimental value behind it. But as the years went on, two legal battles were brought against us in an attempt to have our trademark revoked. We had spent over a decade fighting to protect this name, to defend our ownership of it.  And we won.  We plead our case and won both battles. And even though we won, there was no sense of gratification, no sense of relief. The infringement of Thread Bears® wouldn’t cease.

The person who battled us for our given name refused to abide by the law and just stop using it. This person feels as though she is above the law, and quite frankly it has appeared that way. It is clear that she will stop at nothing to try to associate herself with our business.

Sometimes, you have to change your phone number to avoid having your stalker calling you. And so, at this time we have decided to break away from the business name Thread Bears. The name does not bring happiness. The name does not make a person richer, and it does not make a person more talented. The name doesn’t make a person better. The name doesn’t make a life better lived. The name doesn’t make our business, we do. It’s our products that make us stand apart. It’s the valuable lessons learned through the litigation battles that have taught us to be better business women, the name itself did not teach us that. It’s our faith in God that keeps us persistent in this line of work and knowing that He is leading us to a better place in business and in our lives. The name doesn’t give us that.

We had a year after winning these proceedings to see a change, and we didn’t. And so, we did not fight to renew our trademark registrations. We were told that this person would always continue to battle us in this, and we don’t want to spend our days fighting.

The knowledge we have gained in all of this is what is truly priceless.

As we work to change our name, we are excited about the new possibilities it holds for us–a new direction! We will let you all know shortly what our new business name is!