'Modern-day David v. Goliath': Duluth store sues maker of 'Indiana Jones 5' over pack's use in film

The studio founded by movie mogul George Lucas is being sued by a Duluth outdoor gear manufacturer that is alleging that one of its packs appeared prominently in the newly released "Indiana Jones" movie without permission.

The lawsuit, filed last week in U.S. District Court in the Northern District of California, also accuses Lucas Film Ltd. of putting clips from "Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny" that include the Frost River Trading Co.'s gear on a rival outfitter's website and then trying to cover up the unauthorized use.

In several scenes of the fifth Indiana Jones movie, actor Harrison Ford as the quirky archaeologist "can be seen wearing the Geologist Pack," the suit points out. "Indeed, in a 12-minute sequence, the main characters, including Indiana Jones, can be seen carrying the bags when they are traveling through Sicily."

The suit also alleges that a second Frost River product, the Simple Book Pack, appeared without permission in a commercial for the C.C. Filson company as part of a co-branded campaign that included a sweepstakes that offered consumers a chance to win a National Geographic expedition to Morocco outfitted with Filson's products.

Instead of pursuing permission from Frost River to put its gear in the movie and the promotion, Lucas Film, "in an effort to obscure Frost River's connection to the Geologist Pack and Simple Book Pack ... removed both the oval stamped leather and red taffeta" in violation of a federal trademark law, the suit alleges. The leather oval and the taffeta, or the tag embedded in a side seam, both bear the Frost River logo.

The suit's introduction sets up the combatants as "two corporate juggernauts, Filson and Lucasfilm, exploiting the hard work and intellectual property of Frost River, a small American company."

Frost River's attorneys, Devin McRae and Brett Moore, gave a nod to the only-in-Hollywood ability of Indiana Jones to outrun a giant boulder when they included in their suit that "liability ... for misappropriating Frost River's products is a boulder that Lucasfilm and Filson cannot dodge."

Michael Scampato, a spokesman for the Los Angeles law firm representing Frost River, characterized the suit as "a modern-day case of David v. Goliath."

It might seem to defy common sense that operators of a retail business would object to one of its products being put before the eyes of millions of people around the world, but Frost River marketing and sales manager Steph Anderson said Wednesday that she and her colleagues' glee at hearing about the pack's brush with stardom soon turned to disappointment.

"We were absolutely thrilled," Anderson said. "This couldn't be a better fit for us. It was such a cool moment that should only be celebrated here."

However, Anderson pointed out, "we can't mention that this bag of ours was in a certain movie, and our competition was able to talk about this. ... It was time to take action and not be suppressed by all of this."

Frost River began operations in 2003 as strictly an online and phone-order business. In 2011, it opened a brick-and-mortar location on W. Superior Street in Duluth's Lincoln Park neighborhood, where the store doubles as a manufacturing site for some of its signature items including waxed canvas packs, and bags and accessories.

Filson, founded in 1897 and with headquarters in Seattle, has a global presence with 14 company stores in the U.S., Canada and Japan. Two of its outlets are in the Twin Cities, in Eagan and Edina. Its goods also are sold by various other retailers throughout the Northwest.

A Disney subsidiary based in San Francisco, Lucasfilm has left a significant imprint in the entertainment industry for more than a half-century. Along with its five "Indiana Jones" movies, the studio's credits include "American Graffiti" and the "Star Wars" anthology.

Lucasfilm and C.C. Filson have 21 days from when the suit was filed to submit a response to the court. Messages from the Star Tribune seeking comment about the allegations have been received by representatives for both defendants. Replies were pending as of Wednesday afternoon.

Frost River's attorneys say in the suit that their client "has been deprived of revenues and profits it otherwise would have made, suffered diminished market growth, and sustained a loss of goodwill."

While Frost River is content to leave any ultimate determination of damages to the court, the suit sets a floor of no less than $75,000 along with attorneys' fees and expenses.

In the meantime, Frost River appears to be playing off its legal challenge and has launched a "Geologist Pack — Artifact Edition," that the company website touts as authentic enough "to be featured on the back of a heritage Hollywood film icon."