The Dangers of Inactivity

Not that anybody could mistake a large, plastic, tacky Guess 'G' for the no less ostentatious, yet much pricier Gucci tapestry, but the latter wasn't taking any chances. Originally filed in May of 2009, Gucci sued Guess for trademark infringement (namely for use of green and red stripes with interlocking 'G' pattern strikingly reminiscent of the Italian veteran's logo).

For all of us who breathed an enormous sigh of relief (and shed some tears of joy) when news of passing the bar trickled into our in-boxes last fall, we know the physical agony it cost to attain that precious 'Esq' suffix. Why any lawyer would chose 'inactive' status with the State Bar to save a few bucks is beyond me, but according to WWD, Gucci's in-house counsel must have spent all his paychecks on Italian leather goods and had nothing left over for Bar dues. Gucci's main man, Jonathan Moss, had reportedly been in 'inactive' status since 1996, and was hired by Gucci in 2002 without changing his membership capacity. (I better be sure to attend all those annually required CLE classes in a timely fashion to avoid a similarly embarrassing situation, should I ever become a famous lawyer.) Gucci fired the inactive lawyer, so perhaps now he will seek to pay those lapsed dues and regain employment fighting fashion crime, for the good of purses everywhere. I hope he saved all his CLE certificates of attendance, he'd be a prime candidate for audit.