Marketers understand that quite often the court of public opinion is stronger than a court of law. Such was the case when Deborah Kudzman squared off against Lassonde Industries, Inc., in a seven-year legal battle in Canada.

It started when Kudzmean sought to trademark her line of beauty products, Olivia’s Oasis. Lassonde opposed it because the company holds the Oasis trademark for its line of juices.

Fast-forward seven years, as the Globe and Mail explains:

“Last month, Ms. Kudzman lost a court case to the Rougemont, Que.-based juice maker. Although she had been allowed to continue using the Oasis name for her line of beauty products, a Quebec Superior Court judge overturned a 2010 decision that had declared Lassonde’s suit against her small company abusive, and wiped out an order for Lassonde to pay her $125,000 in damages and legal costs.”

Cue the social media outrage. Reacting to an article about the lawsuit, users flocked to the Oasis Facebook page to voice their displeasure. They also took to Twitter to call for a boycott of Oasis products.

Lassonde relented, and company executives visited Kudzman on Easter to offer a settlement.

Kudzman summed up social media’s power in a single quote to the Globe and Mail:

“Social media and the support of the public accomplished in 30 hours what I couldn’t accomplish in seven years. Five years ago, I don’t think this could have happened.”

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