Patagonia has sued drag performer Wyn Wiley, who performs as Pattie Gonia, in federal court in Los Angeles, opening a trademark fight that now threatens one of the best-known queer climate activists online. The company filed the lawsuit on 21 January and is seeking a nominal $1 in damages plus legal fees.
Wiley went public on Wednesday, posting a video on Instagram and sharing a letter to Patagonia’s board asking the company to drop the case. They said they had stayed silent for four months after the lawsuit was filed while trying to settle the dispute without going to court, but now saw the fight as a choice between “the erasure of my name, my advocacy, my community, and everyone I employ” or standing up for themselves and their supporters. On Wednesday, they accused Patagonia of trying to erase an activist and said the legal costs to defend the drag name would be far higher than the $1 the company is seeking.
Patagonia says Wiley’s September trademark application to use Pattie Gonia on clothing and environmental activism would irreparably harm a brand it has spent the last 50 years building. The company says it had actively engaged with Wiley for several years, made multiple proposals and tried to find a path forward that would let Pattie Gonia keep working while protecting the trademark. It also says the case is not about money, identity or creative expression.
That is the point of friction: Patagonia presents the lawsuit as brand protection, while Wiley frames it as an attack on drag, parody and protest. Wiley said their merch had played on Patagonia in a jokey, satirical way and denied ever using the company’s branding, logo or font. They also have a large public audience to draw on, with millions of followers online and almost $4 million raised for nonprofits, including $1 million last year during a 100-mile hike in full drag from Point Reyes National Seashore to San Francisco.
What happens next is still unsettled. Patagonia says it wants to protect the trademark it has built over five decades, and Wiley is pressing the board to stop the case before the dispute drags a climate activist deeper into court. Whether the two sides find common ground or keep fighting will decide if Pattie Gonia remains a stage name, a brand and an activist platform — or becomes the center of a far costlier legal battle.
