20 January 2023 , 16:06
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A small, family-run business is at risk of collapse after the world's biggest luxury watch firm Rolex demanded they rebrand everything. Devon sisters, Emma Ross-McNairn and Sarah Davies, set up Oyster&Pop from home three years ago, selling £20 colourful wall clocks to help children learn how to tell the time.
Now the siblings fear it could be the end of their women-owned company, as the Swiss manufacturer has argued it's likely consumers would confuse their name with high-end Rolex Oyster Perpetual watches. Rolex lawyers have requested Emma and Sarah change their logo, website domain and name to avoid further action.
Small business Oyster&Pop is named after the road they used to live on in Devon (Oyster&Pop)Sarah told the Mirror: "Our business is our baby. We've worked on it every day for the last three years and it's so important to us for it to succeed.
"We were very surprised when we initially read the letter, as we'd been so careful in researching our name to make sure there was no potential conflict with any existing brands.
"We are still so shocked to receive the objection because we've never made any connection whatsoever to that brand.
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"It would be catastrophic to our company and rebranding is something we just don't have the resources to manage."
Sarah is confident that the public will not confuse their colourful kids learning clocks with Rolex.
Oyster&Pop sell chore chart sets, mathematics fraction sets and children's clocks ranging from £10 to £20, in comparison to Rolex's Oyster Perpetual watches that sell for approximately £5,500.
The colourful children's wall clocks are priced at £20 compared to Rolex's £5,500 (Oyster&Pop)Oyster&Pop is named after the road the sisters were born and raised on in Devon, called Oyster Bend - which they chose to connect the company's identity with their family roots.
Sarah and Emma were notified of the rebrand request by Rolex lawyers after they applied for a Class 14 US trademark last year and it was opposed.
Rolex USA owns the trademark for the word 'oyster' in relation to their high-end adult watches.
"We feel it is clear that the public are not and will not be confused between our kids wall clocks and Rolex's wrist watches," Sarah said.
"We are of no commercial threat to Rolex and do not want our brand associated with their luxury brand in any way."
Sarah and Emma believe changing the name would "destroy" their much-loved family business and cause "irreparable damage".
The mums fear rebranding their company could cause catastrophic damage (Oyster&Pop)"If we had to rebrand, we would be forced to destroy all of our stock of clocks and other products and then start the business from scratch," Sarah said.
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"This would involve a substantial financial loss including the goodwill we have built up in the business.
"Destroying a large amount of stock would also have a significant environmental impact."
The mums, with seven kids between them, are asking Rolex to reconsider their position and have launched a petition with over 71,000 signatures to persuade them.
They have offered to agree terms with Rolex, such as to never produce an adult watch or change the brand's name to just Oyster.
Rolex has been contacted by the Mirror for comment and is yet to respond.
You can sign Emma and Sarah's petition online to help stop Rolex from closing down their business.
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